The present invention relates generally to regulation of back pressure within an ink reservoir without the need for reticulated foam or other filler material of controlled capillary force.
Inkjet printing has become an established printing technique and generally involves the controlled delivery of ink drops from an ink containment structure, or reservoir, to a printing surface, or print media.
One type of inkjet printing, known as drop-on-demand printing, employs a pen that has a print head that is responsive to control signals for ejecting drops of ink from the ink reservoir. Drop-on-demand inkjet printers typically use one of two mechanisms for ejecting drops: thermal bubble or piezoelectric pressure wave. The print head of a thermal bubble type pen includes a thin film resistor that is heated to cause sudden vaporization of a small portion of the ink. The rapid expansion of the ink vapor forces a small amount of ink through a print head orifice.
Piezoelectric pressure wave systems use a piezoelectric element that is responsive to a control signal for abruptly compressing a volume of ink in the print head to thereby produce a pressure wave that forces the ink drops through the orifice.
Although conventional drop-on-demand print heads are effective for ejecting or “pumping” ink drops from a pen reservoir, they do not include any mechanism for preventing ink from permeating through the print head when the print head is inactive. Accordingly, drop-on-demand techniques require a slight back pressure at the print head to prevent ink from leaking through an inactive print head.
One prior technique for providing sufficient back pressure at the print head employs a reticulated synthetic foam within the ink reservoir. The capillarity of the foam provides the back pressure necessary for preventing the ink from permeating through the print head whenever the print head is inactive. Fiber matting and closely-spaced sheets of wettable material have also been used to provide a controlled capillary force.
One problem associated with the use of foam for establishing back pressure at the print head is that some of the ink in the reservoir will become trapped in the very small pores of the foam. Specifically, pore size in foam varies throughout the volume of the foam. The very small pores in the foam exert on the ink a correspondingly strong capillarity that cannot be overcome by the pumping effect of a conventional print head. Any amount of ink that remains trapped in the pen reduces the volumetric efficiency of the pen, which efficiency can be quantified as the interior volume of the pen divided by the total volume of the ink that is delivered by the print head. Oftentimes, the retained ink can account for 15–20% of the original ink volume. In addition, such systems may become unreliable at extreme elevation. For example, standard foam-based ink reservoirs may become unusable at elevations above approximately 9000 feet above sea level as the capillary force of the reticulated foam becomes more difficult to overcome at decreasing ambient pressures.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below that will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for alternatives for regulating back pressure within an ink reservoir.
Apparatus have been described for regulating back pressure within an ink reservoir for use in printing systems. Back pressure is regulated using a column of liquid within a trap contained in the ink reservoir. The trap is vented on one side to ambient pressure and to the other side within the body of the ink reservoir.
Further embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatus of varying scope.
In the following detailed description of the present embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that process, electrical or mechanical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
In operation, ink is provided from the replaceable ink reservoir 100 to at least one inkjet printhead 155. The inkjet printhead 155 is responsive to activation signals from a printer portion 18 to deposit ink on print media 22. The inkjet printhead 155 may be integral to the replaceable ink reservoir 100 or the ink reservoir 100 may be removably attached to the inkjet printhead 155 when installed in the printing system 10. In either case, each ink reservoir 100 is in flow communication with its printhead 155.
For one embodiment, the replaceable ink reservoir 100, receiving station 14, and inkjet printhead 155 are each part of a scanning carriage that is moved relative to print media 22 to accomplish printing. The printer portion 18 includes a media tray 24 for receiving the print media 22. As the print media 22 is stepped through a print zone, the scanning carriage 20 moves the printhead 155 relative to the print media 22. The printer portion 18 selectively activates the printhead 155 to deposit ink on print media 22 to thereby accomplish printing.
The scanning carriage 20 is moved through the print zone on a scanning mechanism that includes a slide rod 26 on which the scanning carriage 20 slides as the scanning carriage 20 moves through a scan axis. A positioning means (not shown) is used for precisely positioning the scanning carriage 20. In addition, a paper advance mechanism (not shown) is used to step the print media 22 through the print zone as the scanning carriage 20 is moved along the scan axis. Electrical signals are provided to the scanning carriage 20 for selectively activating the printhead 155 by means of an electrical link such as a ribbon cable 28. The various components for moving a printhead 155 relative to the print media 22, which may include moving one or both of the printhead 155 and print media 22, may be referred to as a printer engine.
It will be recognized that replaceable ink reservoirs 100, often referred to as ink cartridges, may come in a variety of form factors and may be usable in a variety of printing systems including, for example, printers, facsimile (fax) machines, copiers and multifunction devices. Similarly, the ink reservoirs 100 may contain a single ink color, e.g., cyan, magenta, yellow or black, or they may be compartmentalized to contain more than one ink color.
The body 105 contains a trap 10 for the regulation of pressure within the body 105. The trap 110 includes a first portion or leg 115 adjacent a second portion or leg 120 on opposing sides of a nadir or low point 125. The first leg 115 and second leg 120 are in flow communication with each other through the low point 125.
The trap 110 contains a fluid 130. Although the legs 115 and 120 are depicted in
The first leg 115 of the trap 110 is vented from the body 105 at vent hole 145. The trap 110 should include a cover, check-valve, flow restrictor or other means to avoid, or at least restrict, loss of the fluid 130 through the vent hole 145. Porous membranes have been commonly used to vent bodies of ink reservoirs utilizing reticulated foam or other capillary members, so this technology is well understood for permitting air permeation while restricting fluid loss. Therefore, for one embodiment, the vent hole 145 is covered by an air-permeable membrane 135. Similarly, the trap 110 should include some means to restrict loss of the fluid 130 into the body 105 and to restrict entry of the ink 150 into the trap 110. Accordingly, for one embodiment, the second leg 120 of the trap 110 is covered by an air-permeable membrane 140. It is noted that cover 135 is exposed to a different environment than the cover 140. Accordingly, differing membrane types or thicknesses may be used to provide the desired performance characteristics of allowing air permeation while restricting flow of the fluid 130 and/or the ink 150. Common membranes include a variety of expanded polytetrafluoroethylenes (PTFE).
Prior to operation, the ink reservoir 100 would be partially filled with ink 150. Ink reservoirs utilizing reticulated foam or other capillary members are generally filled to only 50–70% of the volume of the body 105. Because these types of ink reservoirs are vented directly to the atmosphere, the capillary member is generally not fully wetted in order to avoid clogging of the vent membrane if the ink reservoir were to be turned upside down. However, the ink 150 in the ink reservoir 100 is separated from the membrane 135 there is insignificant risk that ink will dry on and clog the membrane 135 regardless of the orientation of the ink reservoir 100. Therefore, the body 105 may be filled with ink 150 more completely. For one embodiment, the body 105 is filled with ink 150 until the level is just below the membrane 140 when the ink reservoir 100 is installed in a printing system.
After filling the ink reservoir 100 with ink 150, a back pressure is created by removing air or other gas from the head space 160 of the body 105 as is common with ink reservoirs of the capillary force type. In this process, the pressure within the body 105 is made to be less than atmospheric pressure. Because the pressure within the body 105 is less than atmospheric, the fluid 130 will not be level on both sides of the low point 125. The pressure differential between the inside and outside of the body 105 will be represented by the height differential 165 between the columns of fluid 130 in the first leg 115 and the second leg 120 of the trap 110.
As depicted in
A cross-sectional geometry of the trap 110 can be varied such that the invention is not limited to a single geometry. Similarly, it is not required that the geometry used for the first leg 115 be the same as the geometry of the second leg 120. Common geometries might include circular, elliptical, rectangular, triangular and other curvilinear or polygonal geometries. However, it is expected that traps 110 of circular tubular members are generally easier to manufacture and will contribute to formation of the bubbles 180.
The cross-sectional area of the trap 110 should be sufficiently large to allow for the formation of the bubbles 180 at the low point 125 and to permit passage of the bubbles 180 through the second leg 120. However, to increase the ink efficiency of the ink reservoir 100, it will be desirable to minimize the amount of space taken up by the trap 110 within the body 105. While the ease of dissipating the bubbles 180 will depend to an extent on the surface tension of the fluid 130, for one embodiment, the second leg 120 has a circular cross-section and an inside diameter of approximately 3–5 mm.
The amount of fluid 130 contained in the trap 110 should be chosen such that the maximum level 165′ is reached when the pressure within the head space 160 is equal to a maximum desired back pressure. For one embodiment, the fluid 130 has a specific gravity greater than a specific gravity of the ink 150. This can result in fewer corrections of pressure within the body 105 as the level of fluid 130 will change at a slower rate than changes in the level of ink 150.
Inks are often water-based inks having specific gravities approximately equal to 1. For one embodiment, the fluid 130 is a saline solution, facilitating specific gravities in excess of 1. A surfactant may be added to the saline solution to reduce the surface tension, thus requiring less force to form bubbles 180. For another embodiment, the fluid 130 is a perfluorocarbon liquid. Such fluorocarbon liquids are commonly used in the testing and manufacture of electronic components, such as the Fluorinert™ electronic liquids available from 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn., USA. These perfluorocarbon liquids have relatively low surface tension and specific gravities approximately 75% above that of common inks.
While the trap 110 depicted in
Because ink reservoirs utilizing filler material of controlled capillary force rely on the hydrostatic pressure of the ink to permit flow to the printhead, a substantial amount of ink is required to overcome the capillary force. This often results in about 15–20% of the original ink volume remaining in the ink reservoir when flow is no longer possible. Ink reservoirs in accordance with embodiments of the invention have been shown to result in ink delivery in excess of 95% of the original volume. In addition, such ink reservoirs have been shown to operate at atmospheric pressures equivalent to an elevation in excess of 25000 feet above sea level.
Apparatus and methods have been described for regulating back pressure within an ink reservoir for use in printing systems. Back pressure is regulated using a column of liquid within a trap contained in the ink reservoir. The trap is vented on one side to ambient pressure and to the other side within the body of the ink reservoir.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement that is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. Many adaptations of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, this application is intended to cover any such adaptations or variations of the invention. It is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by the following claims and equivalents thereof.
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