Droplet deposition head and manifold components therefor

Abstract

A droplet deposition head includes: one or more manifold components, providing one or more fluid inlets, each of which is connectable to a fluid supply system so that the head can receive a corresponding droplet fluid; and two or more arrays of fluid chambers, each chamber being provided with a respective actuating element and a respective nozzle, each actuating element being actuable to eject a droplet of fluid in an ejection direction through the corresponding one of the nozzles, each array extending in an array direction. The head extends, in the ejection direction, from a first end, at which the one or more fluid inlets are located, to a second end, at which the arrays of fluid chambers are located. One or more branched inlet paths are provided within the manifold components over a first portion of their height in the ejection direction, each of the branched paths being fluidically connected so as to receive fluid at a main branch thereof from a respective one of the fluid inlets, branching at one or more branching points into two or more sub-branches, and culminating in a plurality of end sub-branches, to which fluid is conveyed. A plurality of widening inlet chambers is provided within the manifold components over a second portion of their height in the ejection direction, the width of each widening inlet chamber in the array direction increasing with distance in the ejection direction from a first end to a second end thereof, the first end being fluidically connected so as to receive fluid from one or more of the branched paths and the second end being fluidically connected so as to supply fluid to one or more of the arrays. Each of the branched inlet paths is fluidically connected so as to supply fluid to two or more of the widening inlet chambers. Also provided are manifold components, which include a plurality of layers, for a droplet deposition head.