EP1707370A1 - Inkjet printer - Google Patents
Inkjet printer Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP1707370A1 EP1707370A1 EP06111983A EP06111983A EP1707370A1 EP 1707370 A1 EP1707370 A1 EP 1707370A1 EP 06111983 A EP06111983 A EP 06111983A EP 06111983 A EP06111983 A EP 06111983A EP 1707370 A1 EP1707370 A1 EP 1707370A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- ink
- chamber
- constricting element
- constricting
- inkjet printer
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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Classifications
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
- B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
- B41J2/01—Ink jet
- B41J2/135—Nozzles
- B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
- B41J2/14201—Structure of print heads with piezoelectric elements
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
- B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
- B41J2/01—Ink jet
- B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
- B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
- B41J2/17593—Supplying ink in a solid state
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
- B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
- B41J2/01—Ink jet
- B41J2/135—Nozzles
- B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
- B41J2002/14475—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads characterised by nozzle shapes or number of orifices per chamber
Definitions
- the invention pertains to an inkjet printer for jetting ink that is substantially free of solvent, the printer comprising a printhead having an ink chamber with an ink inlet and an ink outlet, an ink supply reservoir in fluid connection with the chamber via the ink inlet, an electromechanical transducer in operative connection with the chamber for generating pressure waves herein, and a heater for substantially uniformly heating the ink in the ink chamber, wherein the ink inlet comprises a constricting element.
- Such an inkjet printer is known from US patent 4,418,355 (DeYoung, 1983 ).
- This printer is designed for jetting inks that are substantially free of solvent, i.e. inks that dry or harden on the receiving medium without the need of large amounts of solvent to evaporate from the jetted ink.
- these inks typically contain less than 10% of material that is not included in the ultimate dried ink.
- Developments in the field of these inks has resulted even in inks that contains less than 5% or even less than 2% (ultimately approaching zero %) of material that will not be included in the dried ink.
- Hot melt inks and UV curable inks are typical examples of such inks.
- solvent free inks typically have a viscosity that is substantially higher than the viscosity of solvent inks.
- the inkjet head comprises a heating element for substantially uniformly heating the ink in the ink chamber. This is in complete contrast with the known bubble jet printheads which have heaters for locally heating the ink in the chamber. Such local heating may give rise to temperature gradients in the chamber itself amounting up to 40°C.
- the temperature gradient in an ink chamber will be less than 10°C. In equilibrium circumstances this will be even less than 5°C, and most probably even less than 2°C.
- the ink chamber 200 is connected to an ink reservoir 212 via an inlet comprising a constricting element 214. This way, it is substantially prevented that pressure waves generated by actuating the electromechanical transducer 204 (see figure 1), propagate via the reservoir to neighbouring ink chambers. Such propagation namely induces cross-talk and most probably print artefacts.
- the known printhead however has an important disadvantage. Due to the fact that solvent free inks have a relatively high viscosity (even at the operating temperature of the printhead these are typical 10 - 15 mPa.s), the restriction in the inlet constitutes an inherent high resistance against free flow of ink from the reservoir to the ink chamber. Therefore, the restriction is bound to certain minimum dimensions depending i.a. on the actual viscosity of the ink and the driving frequency of the electromechanical transducer. This means that the resistance against propagation of pressure waves is not optimal. When the integration density of the nozzles is made higher, and even more so, when the driving frequency becomes higher than 5 kHz, this disadvantage becomes even more pronounced. It is an object of the present invention to overcome or at least mitigate this problem.
- an inkjet printhead according to the preamble has been devised, wherein the constricting element is such that the pressure drop over the constricting element in the direction from the reservoir to the chamber is smaller than the pressure drop over said element in the opposite direction for the same net fluid flow and wherein the ratio of the length of the constricting element and the mean diameter of this element is less than 10.
- the constricting element induces somehow a flow directing effect from the reservoir to the ink chamber.
- a constriction can be chosen having very small dimensions without inducing a deficient supply of ink from the reservoir to the ink chamber.
- an aspect ratio of less than 10 provides for an additional positive effect on the flow of the ink, which effect seems only be noticable when the dimensional and operational limits of the inkjet printhead are being reached.
- the mean diameter in this respect means the diameter of a perfect cylinder having the same length and volume as the actual constricting element.
- Shapes that could be adequately used according to the invention have in common that they are asymmetrical in the direction of flow, e.g. constituting a divergent conduit.
- a conical conduit has an increasing circular cross-section in the direction of the ink flow
- the flat wall type has a rectangular cross section with four flat walls of which two are generally parallel and two are diverging.
- the selection for the type of constricting element depends i.a. on the type of manufacturing process of the printhead.
- an inkjet printhead having a flat wall type diverging ink chamber inlet.
- the inkjet printhead disclosed is not designed for the use of solvent free ink jet inks. There are no heating means present to substantially uniformly heat the ink in the ink chamber.
- From US 4,688,048 there is also known an inkjet printhead having a diverging ink chamber inlet constriction. The inlet shown however is symmetrical in the direction of ink flow and thus induces no net ink flow in the direction of the ink chamber.
- the printhead shown is not devised for the use of solvent free ink.
- the length of the constricting element is less than 500 micrometers. This embodiment appears to be a further improvement of the printhead according to the present invention. The reasons for that are not totally clear but may be related to the fact that a shorter constricting element inherently has a lower resistance against fluid flow. In a further embodiment the length of the constricting element is less than 100 micrometer which remarkably improves the flow stimulating effect of the constricting element according to the invention.
- the ratio of the length of the constricting element and the diameter of the ink chamber is less than 5. This appears to be a further improvement of the printhead according to the invention. It is noted that the diameter of the ink chamber in this respect means the diameter of a perfect cylinder having the same length and volume as the actual ink chamber.
- Fig. 1 diagrammatically illustrates an inkjet printer.
- the printer comprises a roller 1 for supporting a receiving material 2, for example a sheet of paper or a transparent sheet, and to move it along the scanning carriage 3.
- This carriage comprises a support member 5 on which the four printheads 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d are fixed.
- Each printhead is provided with ink of its own colour, in this case respectively cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K).
- the printheads are specially designed for jetting solvent free ink.
- the heads are heated by a heater that comprises heating means 9 disposed at the back of each printhead 4 and on the support member 5.
- the heating means ensure that the temperature of the printheads is high enough to provide for an adequate (low) viscosity of the ink in the ink chambers.
- the printhead itself is at least partly made of materials with excellent heat conduction such that it is possible for the heater to substantially uniformly heat the ink in the ink chambers (not shown). Temperature sensors (not shown) are also provided for.
- the printheads are kept at the correct temperature via a control unit 10, by means of which the heating means can be individually actuated in dependence on the temperature measured by the sensors. Since the printheads are subjected to many heating and cooling cycles, the materials of which the printheads are made are well matched with respect to their thermal expansion coefficients.
- the roller 1 is rotatable about its axis as indicated by arrow A.
- the receiving material can be moved in the sub-scanning direction (X-direction) with respect to the support member 5 and hence also with respect to the printheads 4.
- the carriage 3 can be moved in reciprocation by suitable drive means (not shown) in a direction indicated by the double arrow B, parallel to the roller 1.
- the support member 5 is moved over the guide rods 6 and 7. This direction is termed the main scanning direction or Y-direction. In this way the receiving material can be completely scanned with the printheads 4.
- each printhead 4 comprises a number of print elements each provided with an ink chamber (not shown) having their own nozzle 8.
- the nozzles form for each printhead one row which extends perpendicularly to the axis of roller 1 (sub-scanning direction).
- the number of ink chambers per printhead will be many times larger and the nozzles distributed over two or more rows.
- Each ink chamber is provided with an electromechanical transducer (not shown) whereby the pressure in the ink duct can be suddenly increased so that an ink drop is ejected through the nozzle of the associated chamber in the direction of the receiving material.
- a means of this kind comprises, for example, a piezo-electric element.
- Figure 2 schematically shows a portion of the piezo-electrically driven inkjet printhead 3.
- the portion depicted in figure 2 comprises four ink chambers 11 that under operating conditions contain the printing ink, in this case an adequately liquified hot melt ink.
- an outlet 17 is provided, which extends between the ink chamber and a nozzle 8 provided for in front end 13 of the ink jet head.
- the ink chamber 11 is connected to an ink supply reservoir 14 which serves to supply the ink chambers with new ink.
- the individual ink chambers are connected to the ink supply reservoir via an inlet 15 that is formed as a constricting element.
- the upstream end 12 of the constricting element has a very small opening (5 ⁇ m mean diameter) when compared to the diameter of the ink supply reservoir 14 (300 ⁇ m), the ink chamber itself (100 ⁇ m) and the nozzle opening (30 ⁇ m).
- Each of the ink chambers 11 is connected to a piezo-electric transducer. This transducer can be actuated whereupon it shrinks or expands. This way, by transferring that movement to the ink in the corresponding ink chamber, pressure waves can be generated in the ink. As a result of these pressure waves, a droplet of ink can be jetted out of the nozzle. After that, the same amount of ink is fed from ink reservoir 14 to the corresponding ink chamber.
- the small opening 12 of inlet 15 almost completely prevents the generated pressure waves to propagate to neighbouring ink chambers via the common ink supply reservoir. Still, the supply of ink from the reservoir 14 to each of the ink chambers 11 seems not to be hindered by the small opening 12 of the inlet 15. On the contrary, it appears that the specific design of the constricting inlet, namely a design wherein the pressure drop over this element in the direction from inlet opening 12 to nozzle 8 is smaller than the pressure drop over said element in the opposite direction, provides for a very good ink supply from the reservoir to the ink chamber.
- the pressure drop over the constricting element can be easily calculated in accordance with the common general knowledge in the art of fluid dynamics, for example as explicitly described in Sensors and Actuators A 46-47 (1995) pages 549 - 556 .
- constricting elements which can be used in the printhead according to the invention. Both constricting elements have a length I as indicated of 90 ⁇ m.
- Element 15A is conically shaped (symmetrical around it's axis of length) and has a circular inlet 12 formed as a spout. This inlet has a smallest diameter of 6 ⁇ m.
- the outlet 20 of element 15 has a diameter of 40 ⁇ m.
- the aspect ratio (length divided by mean diameter) of element 15A is thus approximately 4.
- Element 15B is a flat wall element of which the two diverging walls 21 and 22 are visible. Two flat parallel walls (not shown) close element 15B and provide for a height of 20 ⁇ m in the constriction.
- Opening 12' has a width of 4 ⁇ m (and thus the actual measures of opening 12' are 4 x 20 ⁇ m. Opening 20' has a width of 30 ⁇ m (and thus the actual measures of opening 20' are 30 x 20 ⁇ m.
- the aspect ratio of element 15B is thus approximately 5.
Landscapes
- Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)
Abstract
Description
- The invention pertains to an inkjet printer for jetting ink that is substantially free of solvent, the printer comprising a printhead having an ink chamber with an ink inlet and an ink outlet, an ink supply reservoir in fluid connection with the chamber via the ink inlet, an electromechanical transducer in operative connection with the chamber for generating pressure waves herein, and a heater for substantially uniformly heating the ink in the ink chamber, wherein the ink inlet comprises a constricting element.
- Such an inkjet printer is known from
US patent 4,418,355 (DeYoung, 1983 ). This printer is designed for jetting inks that are substantially free of solvent, i.e. inks that dry or harden on the receiving medium without the need of large amounts of solvent to evaporate from the jetted ink. Typically these inks contain less than 10% of material that is not included in the ultimate dried ink. Developments in the field of these inks has resulted even in inks that contains less than 5% or even less than 2% (ultimately approaching zero %) of material that will not be included in the dried ink. Hot melt inks and UV curable inks are typical examples of such inks. In the rest of this description, these inks will be referred to as solvent free inks.
Solvent free inks typically have a viscosity that is substantially higher than the viscosity of solvent inks. In order to be able and jet small drops of these inks out of the outlet (nozzle) of the ink chamber it is therefore required that the ink is heated to an elevated temperature. In order to provide for a stable jetting process, the inkjet head comprises a heating element for substantially uniformly heating the ink in the ink chamber. This is in complete contrast with the known bubble jet printheads which have heaters for locally heating the ink in the chamber. Such local heating may give rise to temperature gradients in the chamber itself amounting up to 40°C. In the head as known from the prior art, the temperature gradient in an ink chamber will be less than 10°C. In equilibrium circumstances this will be even less than 5°C, and most probably even less than 2°C.
As apparent from figure 3 of the above mentioned US patent, the ink chamber 200 is connected to an ink reservoir 212 via an inlet comprising a constricting element 214. This way, it is substantially prevented that pressure waves generated by actuating the electromechanical transducer 204 (see figure 1), propagate via the reservoir to neighbouring ink chambers. Such propagation namely induces cross-talk and most probably print artefacts. - The known printhead however has an important disadvantage. Due to the fact that solvent free inks have a relatively high viscosity (even at the operating temperature of the printhead these are typical 10 - 15 mPa.s), the restriction in the inlet constitutes an inherent high resistance against free flow of ink from the reservoir to the ink chamber. Therefore, the restriction is bound to certain minimum dimensions depending i.a. on the actual viscosity of the ink and the driving frequency of the electromechanical transducer. This means that the resistance against propagation of pressure waves is not optimal. When the integration density of the nozzles is made higher, and even more so, when the driving frequency becomes higher than 5 kHz, this disadvantage becomes even more pronounced. It is an object of the present invention to overcome or at least mitigate this problem. To this end, an inkjet printhead according to the preamble has been devised, wherein the constricting element is such that the pressure drop over the constricting element in the direction from the reservoir to the chamber is smaller than the pressure drop over said element in the opposite direction for the same net fluid flow and wherein the ratio of the length of the constricting element and the mean diameter of this element is less than 10.
- It has surprisingly been found that this way the flow of the ink through the constricting element is substantially less hindered when compared to the straight constricting element as known from the prior art, even when the inkjet printhead has ink chambers with very small dimensions and is operated with frequencies well above 5 kHz. Apparently, in the inkjet printhead according to the present invention, the constricting element induces somehow a flow directing effect from the reservoir to the ink chamber. This means that a constriction can be chosen having very small dimensions without inducing a deficient supply of ink from the reservoir to the ink chamber. It should be clear that many different shapes can be devised for the constricting element as long as it is provided for that the difference in pressure drop and the aspect ratio are as presently claimed. Apparently, an aspect ratio of less than 10 provides for an additional positive effect on the flow of the ink, which effect seems only be noticable when the dimensional and operational limits of the inkjet printhead are being reached. It is noted that the mean diameter in this respect means the diameter of a perfect cylinder having the same length and volume as the actual constricting element.
- Shapes that could be adequately used according to the invention have in common that they are asymmetrical in the direction of flow, e.g. constituting a divergent conduit. For the latter shape, there are two main types of geometries, namely conical and flat wall. A conical conduit has an increasing circular cross-section in the direction of the ink flow, whereas the flat wall type has a rectangular cross section with four flat walls of which two are generally parallel and two are diverging. The selection for the type of constricting element depends i.a. on the type of manufacturing process of the printhead.
- It is noted that from the proceedings of the IMC held in Kobe, May 28-30, in 1986, pages 36-42 (lecture by Kazuaki Utsumi et al. NEC Corporation) an inkjet printhead is known having a flat wall type diverging ink chamber inlet. The inkjet printhead disclosed however is not designed for the use of solvent free ink jet inks. There are no heating means present to substantially uniformly heat the ink in the ink chamber. From
US 4,688,048 there is also known an inkjet printhead having a diverging ink chamber inlet constriction. The inlet shown however is symmetrical in the direction of ink flow and thus induces no net ink flow in the direction of the ink chamber. Next to that, the printhead shown is not devised for the use of solvent free ink. - In an embodiment the length of the constricting element is less than 500 micrometers. This embodiment appears to be a further improvement of the printhead according to the present invention. The reasons for that are not totally clear but may be related to the fact that a shorter constricting element inherently has a lower resistance against fluid flow. In a further embodiment the length of the constricting element is less than 100 micrometer which remarkably improves the flow stimulating effect of the constricting element according to the invention.
- In yet another embodiment, the ratio of the length of the constricting element and the diameter of the ink chamber is less than 5. This appears to be a further improvement of the printhead according to the invention. It is noted that the diameter of the ink chamber in this respect means the diameter of a perfect cylinder having the same length and volume as the actual ink chamber.
- The invention will now be further explained in accordance with the examples given herebeneath.
- Fig. 1
- diagrammatically illustrates an inkjet printer.
- Fig. 2
- shows a portion of the piezo-electrically driven inkjet printhead having Helmholtz type ink chambers.
- Fig. 3
- shows various types of constricting elements that can be sued in the printhead according to the invention.
- Fig. 1 diagrammatically illustrates an inkjet printer. In this embodiment, the printer comprises a roller 1 for supporting a receiving material 2, for example a sheet of paper or a transparent sheet, and to move it along the scanning
carriage 3. This carriage comprises asupport member 5 on which the fourprintheads support member 5. These heating means ensure that the temperature of the printheads is high enough to provide for an adequate (low) viscosity of the ink in the ink chambers. The printhead itself is at least partly made of materials with excellent heat conduction such that it is possible for the heater to substantially uniformly heat the ink in the ink chambers (not shown). Temperature sensors (not shown) are also provided for. The printheads are kept at the correct temperature via acontrol unit 10, by means of which the heating means can be individually actuated in dependence on the temperature measured by the sensors. Since the printheads are subjected to many heating and cooling cycles, the materials of which the printheads are made are well matched with respect to their thermal expansion coefficients. Next to this, all mechanical connections are designed to be able and resist the tensions that are due to the temperature changes.
The roller 1 is rotatable about its axis as indicated by arrow A. In this way, the receiving material can be moved in the sub-scanning direction (X-direction) with respect to thesupport member 5 and hence also with respect to the printheads 4. Thecarriage 3 can be moved in reciprocation by suitable drive means (not shown) in a direction indicated by the double arrow B, parallel to the roller 1. For this purpose, thesupport member 5 is moved over theguide rods own nozzle 8. In this embodiment, the nozzles form for each printhead one row which extends perpendicularly to the axis of roller 1 (sub-scanning direction). In a practical embodiment of an inkjet printer, the number of ink chambers per printhead will be many times larger and the nozzles distributed over two or more rows. Each ink chamber is provided with an electromechanical transducer (not shown) whereby the pressure in the ink duct can be suddenly increased so that an ink drop is ejected through the nozzle of the associated chamber in the direction of the receiving material. A means of this kind comprises, for example, a piezo-electric element. These means can be energised image-wise via an associated electric drive circuit (not shown). In this way an image built up from ink drops can be formed on receiving material 2.
When a receiving material is printed with a printer of this kind, wherein ink drops are ejected by the print elements, said receiving material or a part thereof is (imaginarily) divided up into fixed locations which form a regular field of pixel rows and pixel columns. In one embodiment, the pixel rows are perpendicular to the pixel columns. The resulting separate locations can each be provided with one or more ink drops. The number of locations per unit length in the directions parallel to the pixel rows and pixel columns is termed the resolution of the printed image, for example indicated as 400 x 600 d.p.i. ("dots per inch"). By actuating a row of nozzles of a printhead of the inkjet printer image-wise when the row moves with respect to the receiving material with displacement of thesupport member 5, a (part-)image built up from ink drops forms on the receiving material, at least on a strip of a width of the length of the nozzle row. - Figure 2 schematically shows a portion of the piezo-electrically driven
inkjet printhead 3. The portion depicted in figure 2 comprises fourink chambers 11 that under operating conditions contain the printing ink, in this case an adequately liquified hot melt ink. At one end of the ink chamber anoutlet 17 is provided, which extends between the ink chamber and anozzle 8 provided for infront end 13 of the ink jet head. At the other end, theink chamber 11 is connected to an ink supply reservoir 14 which serves to supply the ink chambers with new ink. The individual ink chambers are connected to the ink supply reservoir via aninlet 15 that is formed as a constricting element. Theupstream end 12 of the constricting element has a very small opening (5 µm mean diameter) when compared to the diameter of the ink supply reservoir 14 (300 µm), the ink chamber itself (100 µm) and the nozzle opening (30 µm). Each of theink chambers 11 is connected to a piezo-electric transducer. This transducer can be actuated whereupon it shrinks or expands. This way, by transferring that movement to the ink in the corresponding ink chamber, pressure waves can be generated in the ink. As a result of these pressure waves, a droplet of ink can be jetted out of the nozzle. After that, the same amount of ink is fed from ink reservoir 14 to the corresponding ink chamber. Thesmall opening 12 ofinlet 15 almost completely prevents the generated pressure waves to propagate to neighbouring ink chambers via the common ink supply reservoir. Still, the supply of ink from the reservoir 14 to each of theink chambers 11 seems not to be hindered by thesmall opening 12 of theinlet 15. On the contrary, it appears that the specific design of the constricting inlet, namely a design wherein the pressure drop over this element in the direction from inlet opening 12 tonozzle 8 is smaller than the pressure drop over said element in the opposite direction, provides for a very good ink supply from the reservoir to the ink chamber. The pressure drop over the constricting element can be easily calculated in accordance with the common general knowledge in the art of fluid dynamics, for example as explicitly described in Sensors and Actuators A 46-47 (1995) pages 549 - 556. - In figure 3 two examples are given of constricting elements which can be used in the printhead according to the invention. Both constricting elements have a length I as indicated of 90 µm. Element 15A is conically shaped (symmetrical around it's axis of length) and has a
circular inlet 12 formed as a spout. This inlet has a smallest diameter of 6 µm. Theoutlet 20 ofelement 15 has a diameter of 40 µm. The aspect ratio (length divided by mean diameter) of element 15A is thus approximately 4.Element 15B is a flat wall element of which the two divergingwalls close element 15B and provide for a height of 20µm in the constriction. Opening 12' has a width of 4 µm (and thus the actual measures of opening 12' are 4 x 20 µm. Opening 20' has a width of 30 µm (and thus the actual measures of opening 20' are 30 x 20 µm. The aspect ratio ofelement 15B is thus approximately 5.
Claims (4)
- Inkjet printer for jetting ink that is substantially free of solvent, the printer comprising a printhead having an ink chamber with an ink inlet and an ink outlet, an ink supply reservoir in fluid connection with the chamber via the ink inlet, an electromechanical transducer in operative connection with the chamber for generating pressure waves herein, and a heater for substantially uniformly heating the ink in the ink chamber, wherein the ink inlet comprises a constricting element, characterised in that the constricting element is such that the pressure drop over the constricting element in the flow direction from the reservoir to the chamber is smaller than the pressure drop over said element in the opposite direction for the same net fluid flow and in that the ratio of the length of the constricting element and the mean diameter of this element is less than 10.
- Inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the length of the constricting element is less than 500 micrometers.
- Inkjet printer according to claim 2, wherein the length of the constricting element is less than 100 micrometer.
- Inkjet printer according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the ratio of the length of the constricting element and the diameter of the ink chamber is less than 5.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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EP20060111983 EP1707370B1 (en) | 2005-03-31 | 2006-03-30 | Inkjet printer |
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EP05102536 | 2005-03-31 | ||
EP20060111983 EP1707370B1 (en) | 2005-03-31 | 2006-03-30 | Inkjet printer |
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EP1707370A1 true EP1707370A1 (en) | 2006-10-04 |
EP1707370B1 EP1707370B1 (en) | 2010-08-11 |
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EP20060111983 Not-in-force EP1707370B1 (en) | 2005-03-31 | 2006-03-30 | Inkjet printer |
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Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US8735558B2 (en) | 2005-02-14 | 2014-05-27 | Pacific Arrow Limited | Blocking the migration or metastasis of cancer cells by affecting adhesion proteins and the uses of new compounds thereof |
Citations (7)
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---|---|---|---|---|
US4317124A (en) * | 1979-02-14 | 1982-02-23 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Ink jet recording apparatus |
US4418355A (en) | 1982-01-04 | 1983-11-29 | Exxon Research And Engineering Co. | Ink jet apparatus with preloaded diaphragm and method of making same |
US4688048A (en) | 1985-09-05 | 1987-08-18 | Nec Corporation | Drop-on-demand ink-jet printing apparatus |
EP0314486A2 (en) * | 1987-10-30 | 1989-05-03 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Hydraulically tuned channel architecture |
JPH01148561A (en) * | 1987-12-04 | 1989-06-09 | Seiko Epson Corp | Ink jet head |
EP0636481A2 (en) * | 1993-07-26 | 1995-02-01 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Liquid-jet printing head and printing apparatus having the liquid-jet printing head |
EP0822080A2 (en) * | 1996-07-31 | 1998-02-04 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Bubble jet head and dubble jet apparatus employing the same |
-
2006
- 2006-03-30 EP EP20060111983 patent/EP1707370B1/en not_active Not-in-force
Patent Citations (7)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4317124A (en) * | 1979-02-14 | 1982-02-23 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Ink jet recording apparatus |
US4418355A (en) | 1982-01-04 | 1983-11-29 | Exxon Research And Engineering Co. | Ink jet apparatus with preloaded diaphragm and method of making same |
US4688048A (en) | 1985-09-05 | 1987-08-18 | Nec Corporation | Drop-on-demand ink-jet printing apparatus |
EP0314486A2 (en) * | 1987-10-30 | 1989-05-03 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Hydraulically tuned channel architecture |
JPH01148561A (en) * | 1987-12-04 | 1989-06-09 | Seiko Epson Corp | Ink jet head |
EP0636481A2 (en) * | 1993-07-26 | 1995-02-01 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Liquid-jet printing head and printing apparatus having the liquid-jet printing head |
EP0822080A2 (en) * | 1996-07-31 | 1998-02-04 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Bubble jet head and dubble jet apparatus employing the same |
Non-Patent Citations (2)
Title |
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KAZUAKI UTSUMI: "PROCEEDINGS OF THE IMC HELD IN KOBE", 28 May 1986, NEC CORPORATION, pages: 36 - 42 |
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS A, vol. 46-47, 1995, pages 549 - 556 |
Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US8735558B2 (en) | 2005-02-14 | 2014-05-27 | Pacific Arrow Limited | Blocking the migration or metastasis of cancer cells by affecting adhesion proteins and the uses of new compounds thereof |
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EP1707370B1 (en) | 2010-08-11 |
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