The present invention relates to a printhead component, and in particular to the arrangement of actuators and electrical connections on that component.
It has previously been proposed to construct a printhead from a number of printhead modules, one advantage being increased manufacturing yield. Such a construction is shown in
It is an object of one aspect of the present invention to provide an improved printhead component.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a component for a drop on demand printhead comprising a mounting surface; three groups of actuators arranged on said surface, each group adapted to selectively eject fluid from a corresponding group of nozzles in response to an electric actuation signal, said groups spaced apart in a lateral direction thereby defining a central group and two end groups; electrical connections extending from said groups across said mounting surface, said connections allowing electric actuation signals to be applied to said actuators; wherein a first fraction of said electrical connections for said central group extend laterally away from said central group towards a first side of said surface, and wherein the remaining fraction of said electrical connections for said central group extend laterally away from said group towards a second side of said surface.
A second aspect of the invention provides a modular array of printhead components arranged along a module axis, each printhead component comprising a mounting surface; a central group of actuators arranged on said surface, and two end groups of actuators arranged on said surface, spaced apart from said central group perpendicular to said module axis; each group of actuators adapted to selectively eject fluid from a corresponding group of nozzles in response to an electric actuation signal; electrical connections extending from said groups across said mounting surface, said connections allowing electric actuation signals to be applied to said actuators; wherein a first fraction of said electrical connections for said central group extend away from said central group on a first side of said module axis, and wherein the remaining fraction of said electrical connections for said central group extend away from said group on the second side of said module axis.
The present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
The connections for the central group 404 are split into two groups, one half of the connections 424a extend laterally towards one lateral edge of the substrate, passing to the side of end group 402. The remainder of the connections 424b extend towards the opposite lateral edge of the substrate. Again, these electrodes pass down one side of the respective end group. In this way, one side of the end groups remains free of electrodes, and the component can be arranged so as to position the end groups close to the edge of the substrate, as shown by dashed lines 430. This is advantageous when butting a plurality of substrates together.
The connections for the central group are shown advantageously originating from different sides of the group, however these connections may originate from any part of the central group
In order to supply ink to the actuators, holes 320, 340, 360, 380 are formed in the substrate, holes 320 and 360 arranged to supply ink to the actuators, and 340 and 380 arranged to receive ink from the actuators.
With reference to
It can be seen that areas 660, 680 of the substrate are not occupied with tracks, and these areas can be used to provide ink feed holes, and also to align and/or secure the individual modules to form the array of modules, for example with the provision of alignment features.
Whilst the example to tracks for the central group being split equally has been provided, the tracks may be split in different proportions. Although linear arrays of actuators have been described, groups of actuators may be arranged in other configurations.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0503996.1 | Feb 2005 | GB | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/GB2006/000687 | 2/27/2006 | WO | 00 | 9/18/2007 |