Xaar Technology Limited

Other

Paul Raymond Drury

Stephen Temple

Jerzy Marcin Zaba

Angus Condie

Robert Alan Harvey

Julian Richard Bane

Salhadin Omer

Alison Diane Morris

Mark Richard Shepherd

Howard John Manning

Robert M Ison

Richard Marsden

Steve Temple

Robert J Lowe

Timothy R Thorpe

Allison Diane Morris

Droplet deposition apparatus including at least one droplet ejection unit having a plurality of fluid channels disposed side by side in a row, an actuator, and a plurality of nozzles, said actuator being actuable to eject a droplet of fluid from a fluid channel through a respective nozzle, a support member for said at least one droplet ejection unit, a first conduit extending along said row and to one side of both said support member and said at least one droplet ejection unit for conveying droplet fluid to each of the fluid channels of said at least one droplet ejection unit; and a second conduit extending along said row and to the other side of both said support member and said at least one droplet ejection unit for receiving droplet fluid from each of the fluid channels of said at least one droplet ejection unit.

Droplet deposition apparatus

A printhead assembly comprising the printhead and filters intended for use with the printhead is passivated by passing a gaseous coating such as Parylene through the assembly. In this way dirt particles created during manufacture of the printhead are encapsulated and thus prevented from blocking the nozzles. The printhead assembly is also prevented from interacting physically or chemically with ink flowing through the printhead.

Passivation of printhead assemblies and components therefor

A mounting arrangement for mounting a printer component to a support, using a foil including a number of mounting apertures, into which pins are inserted to provide alignment. The engagement of the pins in the aperture causes local deformation of the foil, the resulting forces acting to align the pins to an accuracy which can be greater than that to which the foil is manufactured.

Printer arrangement and method of manufacture

A method for depositing droplets onto a substrate employs an apparatus, such as an inkjet printhead, the apparatus having: an array of channels, acting as fluid chambers, separated by interspersed walls, with each channel communicating with an aperture or nozzle for the release of droplets of a fluid contained within the channel, such as ink. Each of the walls separates two neighboring channels and is actuable such that, in response to a first voltage, it will deform so as to decrease the volume of one channel and increase the volume of the other channel, and, in response to a second voltage, it will deform so as to cause the opposite effect on the volumes of the neighboring channels. The method includes the steps of: receiving input data, such as an array of image data pixels; selecting pairs of adjacent channels based on the input data; assigning the selected pairs of adjacent channels as firing channels and the remaining channels as non-firing channels. While the pairs of firing channels may generally have any spacing, one of the pairs of firing channels is spaced apart from another of the pairs of firing channels by an odd number of non-firing channels. Within each of these selected pairs, the separating wall of that pair is actuated so as to cause the release of at least one droplet from each of said firing channels. The actuations for all the pairs overlap in time so as to ensure a high level of throughput or printing speed.

Method and apparatus for droplet deposition

Depositing droplets onto a substrate using an array of channels, acting as fluid chambers, separated by actuable walls. In response to a first voltage, each wall deforms to decrease the volume of one channel and increase the volume of the other channel, and, in response to a second voltage, the wall deforms so as to cause the opposite effect on the volumes of the neighboring channels. Receiving input data; assigning, based on the input data, all channels within the array as firing or non-firing to produce groups of one or more contiguous firing channels separated by groups of one or more contiguous non-firing channels; actuating walls of certain channels resulting in each of the firing channels releasing at least one droplet of fluid, the resulting droplets forming dots disposed on a straight line on a substrate, separated on the line by gaps corresponding to the non-firing channels.

A method for controlling the printing of overlapping swathes, the swathes extending perpendicular to a succession of print lines; for each print line a transition is defined between one swathe and the next, with the location of the transition in the print line varying between print lines, for example varying pseudo-randomly or as a curve extending in the swathe direction.

Printer and method for printing of overlapping swathes

Droplet deposition apparatus comprising an array of fluid chambers defined by a pair of opposing chamber walls, and in fluid communication with a nozzle for droplet ejection therefrom; a cover member is joined to the edges of the chamber walls and thus seals one side of the chambers. The cover member has a ratio of cover thickness to chamber wall separation less than or equal to 1:1.

A droplet deposition apparatus having an array of fluid chambers defined by a pair of opposing chamber walls, and in fluid communication with a nozzle for droplet ejection therefrom; a cover member is joined to the edges of the chamber walls and thus seals one side of the chambers. The cover member has a ratio of cover thickness to chamber wall separation less than or equal to 1:1.

A nozzle plate component manufactured by forming a layer of photoresist on a substrate and selectively exposing and removing material to define an array of distinct bodies. Nickel is then electroformed around the bodies to form a plate, with nozzles subsequently formed by ablation through the photoresist. The process can essentially be repeated to form a guard structure around each nozzle.

Method of manufacturing a component for droplet deposition apparatus

A method of manufacture of printers and printheads formed of a number of modules mounted on a chassis. The modules and chassis are formed with a number of alignment features which engage with one another to form elastic interference couplings. By arranging a number n of such couplings for each module, the variance in positional error of each module with respect to the chassis can be made significantly less than the alignment error of the alignment features themselves, by the process of Average Elastic Alignment. The elastic interference couplings can advantageously be made to form a sealed coupling for the supply of ink from the chassis to each module.

Method of manufacture and printer with elastic alignment features

In an ink jet printhead have an elongate ink chamber and a nozzle at one end, a continuous flow of ink is provided through a high impedance channel communicating with the chamber close to the nozzle. Ink is ejected through the nozzle by generating longitudinal acoustic waves in the fluid chamber. A high velocity ink flow into the chamber from the channel sweeps away from the nozzle debris or bubbles that might otherwise block the nozzle.

Droplet deposition method and apparatus

An actuator taking the form of a piezoelectric wall separating two chambers, which utilizes two actuation modes. Both actuation modes cause volume displacements in both chambers, but act to reinforce one another in one chamber and cancel one another in the other chamber. A fluid pump for droplet deposition having an array of channels separated by such actuators can be operated with each channel acting substantially independently of its neighbors.

An injet printhead is formed by a multistage process: grooves are formed on the base of a block of piezoelectronic material, and a conductor is applied thereto. Conducting tracks are deposited on a substrate with matching spacing, such that the base and piezoelectric material can be joined giving a desired electrical connection. Channels are cut into the top of the piezoelectric block to intersect with the grooves, forming ink chambers, and these are provided with electrodes in electrical contact with the tracks. Cover plates are added to the assembly to provide a manifold and nozzles.

Growing community of inventors

Royston, United Kingdom

Paul Raymond Drury