The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 16, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 12, 1996
Tony Cruz-Uribe, Corvallis, OR (US);
Hitachi Koki Imaging Solutions, Inc., Simi Valley, CA (US);
Abstract
A drop detection apparatus has a thermosensitive substrate for receiving drops of ink and providing a signal representative of a change in the temperature in the thermosensitive substrate which is caused by the ink drops deposited on the thermosensitive substrate. The thermosensitive substrate is made from a pyroelectric material, such as, for example, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and lead zirconium titanate (PLZT). As a result, a drop detection apparatus has a substantially simplified structure for detecting drops of ink ejected from large numbers of jets. Furthermore, since a drop detection apparatus relies on the temperature difference between the thermosensitive substrate and the drop of ink which is substantially small in size, the drop detection apparatus can be made substantially small in size, therefore suitable for a small sized ink jet apparatus.