Xerox Corporation

Tektronix, Inc.

Nasser Alavizadeh

Douglas Dean Darling

David Lyell Knierim

Chad David Freitag

Chad Johan Slenes

Jonathan Robert Brick

William Bruce Weaver

Christopher Jon Laharty

Curtis Douglass Keller

Gautam Dhar

Bradford Stewart

David Paul Platt

Ronald F Burr

Donald B Maclane

Sharon S Berger

Walter Sean Harris

Reid Wayne Gunnell

David W Hanks

Douglas M Stanley

Meade M Neal

Michael F Deily

William H Tomison

Megan Schaffer

David Lylell Knierim

Bryan F Johnson

A print head has a jet stack, a jet stack heating and temperature measuring element thermally connected to the jet stack, the jet stack heating and temperature measuring element including: a first, etched copper layer having heat spreading characteristics and including a resistive heat source electrically connected in series to a voltage source and a switch; an electrically insulative on a back side of the first copper layer; and a second, etched copper layer on a side of the electrically insulative layer opposite the first copper layer, the second copper layer having a temperature sensing element to sense a temperature of the print head without a thermistor, the temperature sensing element connected in series with a voltage source and a transistor. A print head may use a thermistor but the heat spreading layer eliminates the need for a heat sink to attach to the print head.

Systems and methods for heating and measuring temperature of print head jet stacks

Print head jet stack heating and temperature measurement systems and methods are disclosed that both heat the jet stack and determine a temperature of the jet stack. The heating and temperature determination are performed by a flex circuit that includes multiple layers. One of the layers heats the jet stack and another one of the layers provides data that determines the temperature of the jet stack. The heating layer and the temperature sensing layer are separated by an insulative material in the flex circuit. The temperature of the jet stack can be sent to a print head controller that then determines whether to increase or decrease the temperature of the jet stack.

A method of filling a print head includes drawing a vapor into an empty print head to displace any air in the print head and filling the print head with ink. A method of filling a print head includes connecting a print head to a vacuum pump using a first valve, to a liquid supply using a second valve, and to an ink supply using a third valve, opening the first and second valves, applying vacuum to the print head and liquid supply using the vacuum pump, causing the liquid to generate a vapor that moves into the print head, closing the first valve and the second valve, and opening the third valve to move ink into the print head.

Water-vapor assist for filling aqueous print heads

A heater for use in a phase change ink printhead reservoir is provided that includes a first insulating layer having at least one ink supply path opening, and a second insulating layer having at least one ink supply path opening that aligns with the at least one ink supply path opening in the first insulating layer. The heater includes a resistance heating trace arranged in a serpentine pattern between the first and the second insulating layers. The resistance heating trace is configured to receive electric current and to convert the electric current to heat. The resistance heating trace includes a trace ring for each ink supply path opening in the first and second insulating layers that forms a continuous perimeter around the corresponding ink supply path opening.

Heat element configuration for a reservoir heater

A print head reservoir for use in an ink jet printer includes a body, an ink bucket, and a filter. The body defines an ink cavity. The cavity includes a cavity inlet, a cavity outlet and a vent positioned above the cavity inlet for bleeding air from the ink cavity. The ink bucket attaches to the body. The ink bucket communicates with the cavity via the cavity inlet. The filter is disposed in the cavity dividing the cavity into an upstream filter cavity and a downstream filter cavity.

Print head reservoir having purge vents

An ink jet array print head (101) includes four media-width linear ink jet arrays (100). Ink flows from four sets of manifolds (106) through acoustically matched inlet filters (116), inlet ports (117), inlet channels (118), pressure chamber ports (120), and ink pressure chambers (122). Ink leaves the pressure chambers through outlet ports (124) and flows through oval outlet channels (128) to orifices (108), from which ink drops (110) are ejected. The ink pressure chambers are bounded by flexible diaphragms (130) to which piezo-ceramic transducers (132) are bonded. To minimize inter-jet cross-talk caused by pressure fluctuations in the manifolds, compliant walls (150) form one wall along the entire length of each manifold. An improved ink feed system (210) supplies four colors of ink to the print head. Phase-change inks are melted and deposited in ink catch basins (202), funneled into ink storage reservoirs (204), and fed to the print head through ink stack feeds (206) having substantially equal lengths and cross-sectional areas to improve jetting uniformity. Manifold tapering, inlet port positioning, and an elevationally upward slope of the ink stack feeds enhances purgeability of the ink feed system and the ink jet print head.

High-performance ink jet print head having an improved ink feed system

A multiple-orifice phase-change ink-jet print head (28, 44) is heated by a composite laminate heater (29, 58) having multiple heating zones (31-31K, Z1-Z28) spanning the X- and Y-directions of the print head. The print head has multiple rows of ink-jet orifices (34, 46) spread across its face in the Y-direction with the ink in each orifice in each row requiring substantially the same temperature to ensure a uniform jetting velocity from every orifice. In one embodiment, the print head is in fluid communication with a thermally massive multicolor ink reservoir (52) that conducts heat through a region of contact (92) with the print head. A rotating drum (32), spaced across a gap (90) from the print head, draws air through the gap thereby cooling the print head differentially in the Y-direction. Radiation and convection are further thermal transfer mechanisms that contribute to a nonuniform temperature throughout the print heads. The heating zones of the print head heaters compensate for the various thermal transfer mechanisms to cause a uniform temperature throughout the print heads. A temperature controller ( 16) requires only a single temperature sensor (18, 104) to regulate print head temperature.

Apparatus and method for heating ink to a uniform temperature in a

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Tigard, OR, United States of America

Nasser Alavizadeh