Patent Application
20140307029
This invention relates generally to the field of digitally controlled printing and liquid patterning devices, and in particular to continuous ink jet systems in which a liquid stream breaks into drops, some of which are selectively deflected.
Ink jet printing has become recognized as a prominent contender in the digitally controlled, electronic printing arena because of its non-impact, low-noise characteristics, its use of plain paper and its avoidance of toner transfer and fixing. Ink jet printing mechanisms can be categorized by technology as either drop-on-demand ink jet or continuous ink jet.
The first technology, “drop-on-demand” ink jet printing, provides ink droplets that impact upon a recording surface by using a pressurization actuator (thermal, piezoelectric, etc.). Many commonly practiced drop-on-demand technologies use thermal actuation to eject ink droplets from a nozzle. A heater, located at or near the nozzle, heats the ink sufficiently to boil, forming a vapor bubble that creates enough internal pressure to eject an ink droplet. This form of ink jet is commonly termed “thermal ink jet (TIJ).” Other known drop-on-demand droplet ejection mechanisms include piezoelectric actuators, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,843, issued to van Lintel, on Jul. 6, 1993; thermo-mechanical actuators, such as those disclosed by Jarrold et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,627, issued May 13, 2003; and electrostatic actuators, as described by Fujii et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,784, issued Nov. 5, 2002.
The second technology, commonly referred to as “continuous” ink jet printing, uses a pressurized ink source that produces a continuous stream of ink droplets from a nozzle. The stream is perturbed in some fashion causing it to break up into substantially uniform sized drops at a nominally constant distance, the break-off length, from the nozzle. A charging electrode structure is positioned at the nominally constant break-off point so as to induce a data-dependent amount of electrical charge on the drop at the moment of break-off. The charged droplets are directed through a fixed electrostatic field region causing each droplet to deflect proportionately to its charge. The charge levels established at the break-off point thereby cause drops to travel to a specific location on a recording medium or to a gutter for collection and recirculation.
Continuous ink jet (CIJ) drop generators rely on the physics of an unconstrained fluid jet, first analyzed in two dimensions by F. R. S. (Lord) Rayleigh, “Instability of jets,” Proc. London Math. Soc. 10 (4), published in 1878. Lord Rayleigh's analysis showed that liquid under pressure, P, will stream out of a hole, the nozzle, forming a jet of diameter, dj, moving at a velocity, vj. The jet diameter, dj, is approximately equal to the effective nozzle diameter, Ddn, and the jet velocity is proportional to the square root of the reservoir pressure, P. Rayleigh's analysis showed that the jet will naturally break up into drops of varying sizes based on surface waves that have wavelengths, λ, longer than πdj, i.e. λ≧πdj. Rayleigh's analysis also showed that particular surface wavelengths would become dominate if initiated at a large enough magnitude, thereby “synchronizing” the jet to produce mono-sized drops. Continuous ink jet (CIJ) drop generators employ some periodic physical process, a so-called “perturbation” or “stimulation”, that has the effect of establishing a particular, dominant surface wave on the jet. The surface wave grows causing the break-off of the jet into mono-sized drops synchronized to the frequency of the perturbation.
The drop stream that results from applying Rayleigh stimulation will be referred to herein as a stream of drops of predetermined volume as distinguished from the naturally occurring stream of drops of widely varying volume. While in prior art CIJ systems, the drops of interest for printing or patterned layer deposition were invariably of substantially unitary volume, it will be explained that for the present inventions, the stimulation signal may be manipulated to produce drops of predetermined substantial multiples of the unitary volume. Hence the phrase, “streams of drops of predetermined volumes” is inclusive of drop streams that are broken up into drops all having nominally one size or streams broken up into drops of selected (predetermined) different volumes.
In a CIJ system, some drops, usually termed “satellites” much smaller in volume than the predetermined unit volume, may be formed as the stream necks down into a fine ligament of fluid. Such satellites may not be totally predictable or may not always merge with another drop in a predictable fashion, thereby slightly altering the volume of drops intended for printing or patterning. The presence of small, unpredictable satellite drops is, however, inconsequential to the present inventions and is not considered to obviate the fact that the drop sizes have been predetermined by the synchronizing energy signals used in the present inventions. Thus the phrase “predetermined volume” as used to describe the present inventions should be understood to comprehend that some small variation in drop volume about a planned target value may occur due to unpredictable satellite drop formation.
Many commercially practiced CIJ printheads use a piezoelectric device, acoustically coupled to the printhead, to initiate a dominant surface wave on the jet. The coupled piezoelectric device superimposes periodic pressure variations on the base reservoir pressure, causing velocity or flow perturbations that in turn launch synchronizing surface waves. A pioneering disclosure of a piezoelectrically-stimulated CIJ apparatus was made by R. Sweet in U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,275, issued Jul. 27, 1971, Sweet '275 hereinafter. The CIJ apparatus disclosed by Sweet '275 consisted of a single jet, i.e. a single drop generation liquid chamber and a single nozzle structure.
Sweet '275 disclosed several approaches to providing the needed periodic perturbation to the jet to synchronize drop break-off to the perturbation frequency. Sweet '275 discloses a magnetostrictive material affixed to a capillary nozzle enclosed by an electrical coil that is electrically driven at the desired drop generation frequency, vibrating the nozzle, thereby introducing a dominant surface wave perturbation to the jet via the jet velocity. Sweet '275 also discloses a thin ring-electrode positioned to surround but not touch the unbroken fluid jet, just downstream of the nozzle. If the jetted fluid is conductive, and a periodic electric field is applied between the fluid filament and the ring-electrode, the fluid jet may be caused to expand periodically, thereby directly introducing a surface wave perturbation that can synchronize the jet break-off. This CIJ technique is commonly called electrohydrodynamic (EHD) stimulation.
Sweet '275 further disclosed several techniques for applying a synchronizing perturbation by superimposing a pressure variation on the base liquid reservoir pressure that forms the jet. Sweet '275 disclosed a pressurized fluid chamber, the drop generator chamber, having a wall that can be vibrated mechanically at the desired stimulation frequency. Mechanical vibration means disclosed included use of magnetostrictive or piezoelectric transducer drivers or an electromagnetic moving coil. Such mechanical vibration methods are often termed “acoustic stimulation” in the CIJ literature.
The several CIJ stimulation approaches disclosed by Sweet '275 may all be practical in the context of a single jet system However, the selection of a practical stimulation mechanism for a CIJ system having many jets is far more complex. A pioneering disclosure of a multi-jet CIJ printhead has been made by Sweet et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,437, issued Mar. 12, 1968, Sweet '437 hereinafter. Sweet '437 discloses a CIJ printhead having a common drop generator chamber that communicates with a row (an array) of drop emitting nozzles. A rear wall of the common drop generator chamber is vibrated by means of a magnetostrictive device, thereby modulating the chamber pressure and causing a jet velocity perturbation on every jet of the array of jets.
Since the pioneering CIJ disclosures of Sweet '275 and Sweet '437, most disclosed multi jet CIJ printheads have employed some variation of the jet break-off perturbation means described therein. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,560,641 issued Feb. 2, 1971 to Taylor et al. discloses a CIJ printing apparatus having multiple, multi jet arrays wherein the drop break-off stimulation is introduced by means of a vibration device affixed to a high pressure ink supply line that supplies the multiple CIJ printheads. U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,393 issued Jun. 12, 1973 to Lyon et al. discloses a multi jet CIJ array wherein the multiple nozzles are formed as orifices in a single thin nozzle plate and the drop break-off perturbation is provided by vibrating the nozzle plate, an approach akin to the single nozzle vibrator disclosed by Sweet '275. U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,036 issued Apr. 8, 1975 to Loeffler et al. discloses a multi jet CIJ printhead wherein a piezoelectric transducer is bonded to an internal wall of a common drop generator chamber, a combination of the stimulation concepts disclosed by Sweet '437 and '275
Unfortunately, stimulation devices or techniques employing a vibration of some component of the printhead structure or a modulation of the common supply pressure result in some amount of non-uniformity of the magnitude of the perturbation applied to each individual jet of a multi jet CIJ array. Non-uniform stimulation leads to a variability in the break-off length and timing among the jets of the array. This variability in break-off characteristics, in turn, leads to an inability to position a common drop charging assembly or to use a data timing scheme that can serve all of the jets of the array.
In addition to addressing problems of break-off time control among jets of an array, continuous drop emission systems that generate drops in which at least one of the predetermined volume, the drop velocity, breakoff length, or the drop break off phase are based on the liquid-deposition pattern data, commonly called print data, need a means of stimulating each individual jet in an independent fashion in response to the print data. Consequently, in recent years an effort has been made to develop practical “stimulation per jet” apparatus capable of applying individual stimulation signals to individual jets. As will be discussed herein, plural stimulation element apparatus have been successfully developed, however, some inter jet stimulation “crosstalk” problems may remain.
The electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet stimulation concept disclosed by Sweet '275 operates on the emitted liquid jet filament directly, causing minimal acoustic excitation of the printhead structure itself, thereby avoiding the above noted confounding contributions of printhead and mounting structure resonances. U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,958 issued Sep. 2, 1980 to Crowley discloses a CIJ printer wherein the perturbation is accomplished by an EHD exciter composed of pump electrodes of a length equal to about one-half the droplet spacing. The multiple pump electrodes are spaced at intervals of multiples of about one-half the droplet spacing or wavelength downstream from the nozzles. This arrangement greatly reduces the voltage needed to achieve drop break-off over the configuration disclosed by Sweet '275.
While EHD stimulation has been pursued as an alternative to acoustic stimulation, it has not been applied commercially because of the difficulty in fabricating printhead structures having the very close jet-to-electrode spacing and alignment required and, then, operating reliably without electrostatic breakdown occurring. Also, due to the relatively long range of electric field effects, EHD is not amenable to providing individual stimulation signals to individual jets in an array of closely spaced jets.
An alternate jet perturbation concept that overcomes all of the drawbacks of acoustic or EHD stimulation was disclosed for a single jet CIJ system in U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,519 issued Apr. 15, 1975 to J. Eaton (Eaton hereinafter). Eaton discloses the thermal stimulation of a jet fluid filament by means of localized light energy or by means of a resistive heater located at the nozzle, the point of formation of the fluid jet. Eaton explains that the fluid properties, especially the surface tension, of a heated portion of a jet may be sufficiently changed with respect to an unheated portion to cause a localized change in the diameter of the jet, thereby launching a dominant surface wave if applied at an appropriate frequency. U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,328 issued Jan. 20, 1987 to Drake, et al. (Drake hereinafter) discloses a thermally-stimulated multi-jet CIJ drop generator fabricated in an analogous fashion to a thermal ink jet device. That is, Drake discloses the operation of a traditional thermal ink jet (TIJ) edgeshooter or roofshooter device in CIJ mode by supplying high pressure ink and applying energy pulses to the heaters sufficient to cause synchronized break-off but not so as to generate vapor bubbles.
Also recently, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), have been disclosed that utilize electromechanical and thermomechanical transducers to generate mechanical energy for performing work. For example, thin film piezoelectric, ferroelectric or electrostrictive materials such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT), lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT), or lead magnesium niobate titanate (PMNT) may be deposited by sputtering or sol gel techniques to serve as a layer that will expand or contract in response to an applied electric field. See, for example Shimada, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,387,225, issued May 14, 2002; Sumi, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,161, issued Jan. 28, 2003; and Miyashita, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,107, issued Apr. 8, 2003. Thermomechanical devices utilizing electroresistive materials that have large coefficients of thermal expansion, such as titanium aluminide, have been disclosed as thermal actuators constructed on semiconductor substrates. See, for example, Jarrold et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,627, issued May 13, 2003. Therefore electromechanical devices may also be configured and fabricated using microelectronic processes to provide stimulation energy on a jet-by-jet basis.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,921 issued to Chwalek, et al. on Jan. 14, 2003, discloses a method and apparatus whereby a plurality of thermally deflected liquid streams is caused to break up into drops of large and small volumes, hence, large and small cross-sectional areas. Thermal deflection is used to cause smaller drops to be directed out of the plane of the plurality of streams of drops while large drops are allowed to fly along nominal “straight” pathways. In addition, a uniform gas flow is imposed in a direction having velocity components perpendicular and across the array of streams of drops of cross-sectional areas. The perpendicular gas flow velocity components apply more force per mass to drops having smaller cross-sections than to drops having larger cross-sections, resulting in an amplification of the deflection acceleration of the small drops.
U.S. Published Application No. 20100033542 by Piatt, et al., Feb. 11, 2010, discloses a method and apparatus whereby a plurality of liquid streams are caused to breakoff at longer or shorter breakoff lengths in response to the print data, and thereby cause the drops that break off to break off in regions of higher or lower electric field strengths. This yields drops of higher or lower drop charge to be formed. The subsequent deflection of these drops by an electric field causes the trajectories of the higher and lower charge to diverge. A catcher is positioned to intercept the trajectory of one of the higher and lower charged drops while drops travelling along the other trajectory are allowed to strike the print media.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,938,516, issued to Piatt, et al. published on May 10, 2011, discloses a method and apparatus whereby the breakoff phase of drops from a plurality of liquid streams are varied in response to print data, such that certain drops break off while a charge electrode is at a first voltage, and the other drops break off while the charge electrode is at a second voltage. As a result the drops breaking off are charged and subsequently deflected by different amount according to the voltage on the charge electrode at the time of breakoff. A catcher is positioned to intercept the trajectory of the drops charged by one of the first or the second charge plate voltage while drops travelling along the other trajectory are allowed to strike the print media.
U.S. Published Application No. 20120300000 by Panchawagh published on Nov. 29, 2012 discloses an apparatus in which a series pairs of drops are created; one drop of each drop pair breaks off while the charge plate is at a first voltage and the other breaks off while the charge plate is at a second voltage. In response to print data, the relative velocity of the drops in the drop pair can be modulated so that the drops of certain drop pairs merge to form a drop having the combined mass and charge of the individual drops. The drops in the other drop pairs do not merge. The merged and unmerged drops pairs pass through an electric field that causes the merged drops to strike the catcher along with one of the drops of the non-merged drop pairs, while the other drop of the non-merged drop pair is allowed to strike the print media.
Continuous drop emission systems that utilize stimulation per jet apparatus are effective in providing control of the break-up parameters of an individual jet within a large array of jets. The inventors of the present inventions have found, however, that even when the stimulation is highly localized to each jet, for example, via resistive heating at the nozzle exit of each jet, some stimulation crosstalk still propagates as acoustic energy through the liquid via the common supply chambers. The added acoustic stimulation crosstalk from adjacent jets may adversely affect jet break up in terms of breakoff timing, breakoff length, relative drop velocity, or satellite drop formation. When operating in a printing mode of generating different predetermined drop volumes, according to the print data, acoustic stimulation crosstalk may alter the jet break-up producing drops that are not the desired predetermined volume. Especially in the case of systems using multiple predetermined drop volumes, the effects of acoustic stimulation cross talk are data-dependent, leading to complex interactions that are difficult to predict.
Consequently, there is a need to improve the stimulation per jet type of continuous liquid drop emitter by reducing inter-jet acoustic stimulation crosstalk so that the break-up characteristics of individual jets are predictable, and may be relied upon in translating print data into drop generation pulse sequences for the plurality of jets in a large array of continuous drop emitters.
According to an aspect of the invention, a continuous liquid ejection printhead includes a plurality of nozzles having a nozzle to nozzle spacing of X. Each nozzle of the plurality of nozzles is in fluid communication with a liquid supply channel through a liquid dispensing channel. The liquid supply channel includes a liquid inlet. The liquid inlets of the liquid supply channels have a center to center inlet to inlet spacing that is greater than X.
In the detailed description of the example embodiments of the invention presented below, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
a and 2b show schematic plan views of a single thermal stream break-up transducer and a portion of an array of such transducers, respectively, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
a and 3b show schematic cross-sections illustrating natural break-up and synchronized break-up, respectively, of continuous steams of liquid into drops, respectively;
a,
4
b and 4c show representations of energy pulse sequences for stimulating synchronous break-up of a fluid jet by stream break-up heater resistors resulting in drops of different predetermined volumes according to a preferred embodiment of the present inventions;
The present description will be directed in particular to elements forming part of, or cooperating more directly with, apparatus in accordance with the present invention. It is to be understood that elements not specifically shown or described may take various forms well known to those skilled in the art.
Referring to
The liquid pattern deposition system further includes a source of the image or print data 410 which provides raster image data, outline image data in the form of a page description language, or other forms of digital image data. This image data is converted to bitmap image data by controller 400 and stored for transfer to a multi-jet drop emission printhead 10 via a plurality of printhead transducer circuits 412 connected to printhead electrical interface 20. The bit map image data specifies the deposition of individual drops onto the picture elements (pixels) of a two dimensional matrix of positions, equally spaced a pattern raster distance, determined by the desired pattern resolution, i.e. the pattern “dots per inch” or the like. The raster distance or spacing can be equal or can be different in the two dimensions of the pattern.
Controller 400 also creates drop synchronization signals to the printhead transducer circuits that are subsequently applied to printhead 10 to cause the break-up of the plurality of fluid streams emitted into drops of predetermined volume and with a predictable timing. Printhead 10 is illustrated as a “page wide” printhead in that it contains a plurality of jets sufficient to print all scanlines across the medium 300 without need for movement of the printhead itself.
Recording medium 300 is moved relative to printhead 10 by a recording medium transport system, which is electronically controlled by a media transport control system 414, and which in turn is controlled by controller 400. The recording medium transport system shown in
Pattern liquid is contained in a liquid reservoir 418 under pressure. In the non-printing state, continuous drop streams are unable to reach recording medium 300 due to a fluid gutter (not shown) that captures the stream and which can allow a portion of the liquid to be recycled by a liquid recycling unit 416. The liquid recycling unit 416 receives the un-printed liquid via printhead fluid outlet 245, reconditions the liquid and feeds it back to reservoir 418 or stores it. The liquid recycling unit can also be configured to apply a vacuum pressure to printhead fluid outlet 245 to assist in liquid recovery and to affect the gas flow through printhead 10. Such liquid recycling units are well known in the art. The liquid pressure suitable for optimal operation will depend on a number of factors, including geometry and thermal properties of the nozzles and thermal properties of the liquid. A constant liquid pressure can be achieved by applying pressure to liquid reservoir 418 under the control of liquid supply controller 424 that is managed by controller 400.
The liquid is distributed via a liquid supply line entering printhead 10 at liquid inlet port 42. The liquid preferably flows through slots and/or holes etched through a silicon substrate of printhead 10 to its front surface, where a plurality of nozzles and printhead transducers are situated. In some preferred embodiments of the present inventions the printhead transducers are resistive heaters. In other embodiments, more than one transducer per jet can be provided including some combination of resistive heaters, electric field electrodes and microelectromechanical flow valves. When printhead 10 is at least partially fabricated from silicon, it is possible to integrate some portion of the printhead transducer control circuits 412 with the printhead, simplifying printhead electrical connector 22.
A secondary drop deflection apparatus, described in more detail below, can be configured downstream of the liquid drop emission nozzles. This secondary drop deflection apparatus comprises an airflow plenum that generates air flows that impinge individual drops in the plurality of streams of drops flying along predetermined paths based on pattern data. A negative pressure source 420, controlled by the controller 400 through a negative pressure control apparatus 422, is connected to printhead 10 via negative pressure source inlet 99.
A front face view of a single nozzle 50 of a preferred printhead embodiment is illustrated in
An encompassing resistive heater 30 is formed on a front face layer surrounding the nozzle bore. Resistive heater 30 is addressed by electrodes or leads 38 and 36. One of these electrodes 36 can be shared in common with the resistors surrounding other jets. At least one resistor lead 38, however, provides electrical pulses to the jet individually so as to cause the independent stimulation of that jet. Alternatively a matrix addressing arrangement can be employed in which the two address leads 38, 36 are used in conjunction to selectively apply stimulation pulses to a given jet. These same resistive heaters are also utilized to launch a surface wave of the proper wavelength to synchronize the jet of liquid to break-up into drops of substantially uniform diameter, Dd, volume, V0, and spacing λd. Pulsing schemes can also be devised that cause the break-up of the stream into segments of fluid that coalesce into drops having volumes, Vm, that are approximately integer multiples of V0, i.e. into drops of volume ˜mV0, where m is an integer.
One effect of pulsing nozzle heater 30 on a continuous stream of fluid 62 is illustrated in a side view in
In
In
Thermal pulse synchronization of the break-up of continuous liquid jets is also known to provide the capability of generating streams of drops of predetermined volumes wherein some drops can be formed having approximate integer, m, multiple volumes, mV0, of a unit volume, V0. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,888 to Jeanmaire, et al. and assigned to the assignee of the present inventions.
In
The capability of producing drops in substantially multiple units of the unit volume V0 can be used to advantage in differentiating between print and non-printing drops. Drops can be deflected by entraining them in a cross air flow field. Larger drops have a smaller drag to mass ratio and so are deflected less than smaller volume drops in an air flow field. Thus an air deflection zone can be used to disperse drops of different volumes to different flight paths. A liquid pattern deposition system can be configured to print with large volume drops and to gutter small drops, or vice versa.
Jets 62j+1 and 62j+2 are not being stimulated by energy pulses to corresponding stimulation resistors 30j+1 and 30j+2. Jet 62j+2 is illustrated as breaking up into drops 66 having a natural dispersion of volumes. However, non-stimulated jet 62j+1, adjacent stimulated jet 62j, is illustrated as exhibiting a mixture of natural and stimulated jet break-up behavior. The inventors of the present inventions have observed such jet break-up behavior using stroboscopic illumination triggered at a multiple of the fundamental stimulation frequency, f0. When reflected acoustic stimulation energy 142 is present arising as “crosstalk” from the acoustic energy 140 produced at a nearby stimulated jet, the affected stream shows a higher proportion of drops being generated at the base drop volume, V0, and drop separation distance, λ0, than is the case for totally natural break-up. The stroboscopically illuminated image of a jet breaking up naturally is a blur of superimposed drops of random volumes. When a small amount of acoustic stimulation energy 142 at the fundamental frequency, f0, is added to the fluid flow, because of source acoustic energy 140 propagated in the common supply liquid channels, the image shows a strong stationary ghost image of a stimulated jet superimposed on the blur of the natural break-up. Acoustic stimulation crosstalk also may give rise to differences in break-off length (δ BOL) among stimulated jets as is also illustrated in
The invention decreases the crosstalk between adjacent nozzles by effectively increasing the spacing between adjacent nozzles. One embodiment of the invention is shown in
The liquid supply channels 170 are formed in the second substrate, the liquid distribution layer 166. The second substrate typically comprises a silicon layer, as does the first substrate 154. The liquid distribution layer 166 can be bonded to the first substrate 154 using an adhesive bonding, an anodic bonding, a eutectic bonding, or other bonding processes know to the skilled in the art. The second substrate can also comprise a polymeric layer. Preferably, the first substrate 154 has sufficient thickness so that the lateral flow velocity of the liquid in the liquid supply channels doesn't produce a significant lateral velocity component to the liquid streams emanating from each nozzle. The level of crosstalk between adjacent nozzles also depends on the fluid impedance between adjacent nozzles. The level of crosstalk is high when the fluid impedance between adjacent nozzles is low. The fluid impedance between the nozzles depends on the cross sectional area and the length of the fluid channel between adjacent nozzles. The fluid impedance between the nozzles is high when the cross sectional area of the fluid channel between adjacent nozzles is small and the length of the fluid channel between adjacent nozzles is long. The continuous inkjet printhead 10 in
In the embodiment of
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the scope of the invention.
