Eastman-Kodak Company

Other

David Louis Jeanmaire

James Michael Chwalek

Gilbert Allan Hawkins

Christopher Newell Delametter

Todd Russell Griffin

David John Nelson

David P Trauernicht

Constantine N Anagnostopoulos

Allan Francis Sowinski

Alexandra DiLauro Bermel

Robert Link

Brian L Lindstrom

Kim W Montz

Stanley W Stephenson

Xin Wen

Joseph E Yokajty

John C Brazas

Michael S Hanchak

Lee William Tutt

Ravi Sharma

James Alan Katerberg

Stephen F Pond

Zhanjun Gao

John Charles Brazas, Jr

Anthony R Lubinsky

Kathleen M Vaeth

Robert J Simon

Omid A Moghadam

Thomas Walter Steiner

Randolph Brost

Antonio Cabal

Michael Frank Baumer

Charles F Faisst

Jinquan Xu

Gregory James Garbacz

Bradley A Phillips

Douglas E Schultz

William R Zimmerli

Scott Bernard Mahon

Randolph Carl Brost

John Charles Brazas

Robert James Simon

Joseph Edward Yokajty

Bradley Allen Phillips

A continuous printhead drop deflector system includes a gas flow duct including a wall, the wall including a porous member having pores through which liquid can flow and a liquid flow channel, the flow channel being separated from the air flow duct by the porous member, the flow channel includes; a first port for extracting liquid from a first portion of the liquid flow channel; a second port for supplying liquid to a second portion of the liquid flow channel; one or more paths in the liquid channel permitting fluid to flow from the second portion to the first portion; wherein liquid, supplied through the second port to the second portion of the liquid channel and through the one or more paths to the first portion of the liquid channel, contacts and wicks into the porous member before being extracted through the first port.

Continuous printhead drop deflector system

A method of printing an image with a continuous inkjet printer system employing a jetting module including a nozzle in fluid communication with a liquid ink source and a catcher including a liquid drop contact face; wherein the liquid ink is an aqueous inkjet black ink comprising a black colorant and at least one surfactant selected to provide a 10-ms dynamic surface tension of less than 54 mN/m. Full color images may be printed by further employing at least second, third and fourth jetting modules and yellow, magenta and cyan inks each also comprising a surfactant selected to provide a 10-ms dynamic surface tension of less than 54 mN/m for each ink. The ink compositions provide for fluid properties on the drop catcher face that minimize printing defects that can occur during drop deflection during the printing of high dynamic range images at high speed.

Continuous inkjet printing method

An aqueous inkjet ink set for use in continuous inkjet printing comprising at least one cyan ink, at least one yellow ink, at least one magenta ink, and at least one black ink, wherein each ink of the ink set comprises dispersed pigment particles and at least one surfactant selected to provide a 10-ms dynamic surface tension of less than 54 mN/m for each ink. The invention relates to continuous ink jet printing of aqueous pigmented ink compositions recycled from main ink supply reservoirs, employing a printer with drop ejectors and a drop deflector and non-printing drop catchers capable of returning unprinted ink to the fluid delivery systems following the capture of non-printing drops. The pigmented ink jet ink compositions provide for particularly suitable fluid properties on the drop catcher face that minimize printing defects that can occur during drop deflection during the printing of high dynamic range images at high speed.

Ink set for continuous inkjet printing

A printhead includes a liquid source, a first substrate, a filter, and a liquid chamber. Portions of the first substrate define a nozzle adapted to emit liquid from the liquid source. The liquid chamber includes a port. The liquid chamber is in fluid communication with the nozzle and the filter and is positioned between the first substrate and the filter.

Printhead including port after filter

An aqueous inkjet black ink composition for use in continuous ink jet printing is provided comprising black pigment particles dispersed with a polymeric dispersant or self dispersing pigment particles without the need for a dispersant; and at least one surfactant, wherein the at least one surfactant is selected to provide the ink composition with a 10-dynamic surface tension of less than 54 mN/m. The invention relates to continuous ink jet printing of an aqueous pigmented ink composition recycled from a main ink supply reservoir, employing a printer with a drop ejector and a drop deflector and a non-printing drop catcher capable of returning unprinted ink to the fluid delivery system following the capture of non-printing drops. The pigmented ink jet ink compositions provide for particularly suitable fluid properties on the drop catcher face that minimize printing defects that can occur during drop deflection during the printing of high dynamic range images at high speed.

Ink composition for continuous inkjet printing

The method includes forming first size drops by applying drop forming pulses during a unit time period &#x3c4;; forming second size drops by applying drop forming pulses during a second size drop time period, &#x3c4;m, which is a multiple, m, of the unit time period; forming the corresponding plurality of drop forming energy pulse sequences so as to form non-print drops and print drops; delaying the timing of the drop forming energy pulses sent to the transducers of the second group relative to the drop forming energy pulses sent to the transducers of the first group by a delay time &#x3c4;, characterized by &#x3c4;being equal to d*&#x3c4;where d is 1&#xbd; to 9&#xbd;, when printing at a first speed and &#x3c4;approximately equal to f*&#x3c4;times where f is 1&#xbd; to 9&#xbd;, f is greater than d when printing at a speed slower than the first speed.

Phase shifts for printing at two speeds

A method of forming print drops includes forming drops of a first size by applying drop forming energy pulses during a unit time period, &#x3c4;; forming drops of a second size by applying drop forming energy pulses during a second drop time period, &#x3c4;, wherein the second drop time period is a multiple, m, of the unit time period, &#x3c4;=m*&#x3c4;, m&#x2267;2; providing timing between drops for printing consecutive pixels is &#x3c4;=a*&#x3c4;where a is an integer&#x2267;m; forming non-print drops and print drops according to the liquid pattern data; delaying the timing of the pulses for the drop forming energy pulses sent to the drop forming transducers of group number g relative to the drop forming energy pulses sent to the transducers of a first group by a delay time &#x3c4;, where &#x3c4;=g*(INT(a/n)+1/n)*&#x3c4;+&#x3c4;where g is an integer&#x3c;n.

Dynamic phase shifts to improve stream print

A method includes forming drops of first size by applying drop-forming pulses during unit time period, &#x3c4;; forming drops of second size by applying drop-forming pulses during second size drop time period, &#x3c4;m, wherein the second sized drop time period is a multiple, m, of the unit time period, &#x3c4;m=m*&#x3c4;, and m&#x2267;2; providing timing between drops for printing consecutive pixels is equal to &#x3c4;i=a*&#x3c4;where a is an integer &#x2267;m and is a function of print media speed; forming the corresponding plurality of drop forming pulse sequences so as to form non-print drops and print drops according to the liquid pattern data; delaying the timing of the drop forming pulses sent to the transducers of the second group relative to the drop forming pulses sent to the transducers of the first group by a delay time &#x3c4;which is approximately equal to &#x3c4;/2.

Phase shifts for two groups of nozzles

A continuous liquid printing system gas flow device includes a gas flow duct structure including a first wall and a second wall. The first wall and the second wall are positioned spaced apart and opposite each other to form an opening. The first wall is contoured such that a distance between the first wall and the second wall varies when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the opening.

Continuous printhead contoured gas flow device

A method of printing and a printhead are provided. The printhead includes a nozzle array having a width; a gas flow source; and a gas flow duct in fluid communication with the gas flow source. The gas flow duct includes an expansion region and a compression region. The expansion region of the gas flow duct gradually expands along its cross sectional length to at least the width of the nozzle array. The compression region of the gas flow duct gradually contracts along its cross sectional length.

Deflection device including expansion and contraction regions

A method of printing includes associating a pixel area of a recording medium with a nozzle and a time interval during which a fluid drop ejected from the nozzle can impinge the pixel area of the recording medium. The time interval is divided into a plurality of subintervals. Some of the plurality of subintervals are grouped into blocks. One of two labels is associated with each block. The first label defines a printing drop and the second label defines non-printing drops. No drop forming pulse is associated between subintervals of each block having the first label. A drop forming pulse is associated between each subinterval of each block having the second label. A drop forming pulse is associated between other subintervals between each pair of consecutive blocks. Drops are caused to be ejected from the nozzle based on the associated drop forming pulses.

Adjustable drop placement printing method

A drop generator operable to selectively form a drop having a first size and a drop having a second size from liquid emitted through a nozzle associated with the drop generator. The drop having the first size and the drop having the second size travel along a drop trajectory with the first size being larger than the second size when compared to each other. Each of the drops has a drop velocity. A gas flow deflection system includes a gas flow that is directed at a deflection zone that comprises at least a portion of the drop trajectory. The gas flow in the deflection zone includes a velocity vector having a parallel velocity component and a perpendicular velocity component with the parallel velocity component and the perpendicular velocity component being defined relative to the drop trajectory.

Printer having improved gas flow drop deflection

Drop deflector apparatus and methods for a continuous drop emission system comprising a plurality of drop nozzles emitting a plurality of continuous streams of a liquid that break up into streams of drops of substantially uniform drop volume having nominal flight paths that are substantially within a nominal flight plane are disclosed. A plurality of path selection elements corresponding to the plurality of continuous streams of drops is provided operable to firstly deflect individual drops from the corresponding continuous stream of drops along a first deflection flight path diverging from the nominal flight path based on pattern data. A plurality of gas nozzles is provided which generate a plurality of localized gas flows, positioned along one of the first deflection flight paths or the nominal flight paths, wherein the localized gas flows are oriented so as to cause a substantial second deflection of one of the firstly deflected drops or the nominal drops in a direction perpendicular to the nominal flight plane without causing a substantial deflection of drops following the other of the first deflection flight paths or the nominal flight paths. Secondly deflected drops are captured before they impinge a receiver medium. An image pattern is thereby deposited by either firstly deflected or undeflected drops.

Deflected drop liquid pattern deposition apparatus and methods

A drop deflector apparatus for a continuous drop emission system that deposits a liquid pattern on a receiver according to liquid pattern data comprising a plurality of drop nozzles formed along a nozzle array axis and emitting a plurality of continuous streams of a liquid that breaks up into a plurality of streams of drops having nominal flight paths that are substantially parallel and substantially within a nominal flight plane is disclosed. An airflow plenum having an evacuation end connected to a negative pressure source and an impingement end having an opening located adjacent the nominal flight plane into which ambient air is drawn for the purpose of deflecting drops in an air deflection direction perpendicular to the nominal flight plane is provided. The opening is bounded by upstream, downstream, first and second walls wherein the upstream and downstream wall ends are spaced away from the nominal flight plane in the air deflection direction by a larger amount than are the first and second side wall edges. An airflow plenum having through slots for the passage of drops is also disclosed. Such a plenum design increases the amount of drop deflection achieved for a given maximum deflection air velocity and provides a reduction in the affect of perturbing air currents that may be present around the nominal flight paths. Drop synchronization apparatus is disclosed to break up continuous streams into drops of large and small volumes according to liquid pattern data, the large and small drops being differently deflected by the air flow in the airflow plenum. A plurality of path selection elements is disclosed for directing drops along different paths according to liquid pattern data, wherein drops following different paths are differently deflected by the air flow in the airflow plenum. A method of printing using the disclosed apparatus is also disclosed.

Air deflected drop liquid pattern deposition apparatus and methods

A method of printing includes associating a pixel area of a recording medium with a nozzle and a time interval during which a fluid drop ejected from the nozzle can impinge the pixel area of the recording medium; dividing the time interval into a plurality of subintervals; grouping some of the plurality of subintervals into blocks; associating one of two labels with each block, the first label defining a printing drop, the second label defining non-printing drops; associating no drop forming pulse between subintervals of each block having the first label; associating a drop forming pulse between each subinterval of each block having the second label; associating a drop forming pulse between other subintervals, the drop forming pulse being between each pair of consecutive blocks; and causing drops to be ejected from the nozzle based on the associated drop forming pulses.

Continuous inkjet printer having adjustable drop placement

Growing community of inventors

Brockport, NY, United States of America

David Louis Jeanmaire