A liquid discharge head includes a nozzle plate having multiple nozzles from which a liquid is dischargeable in a discharge direction, the multiple nozzles arrayed in a nozzle array direction; an individual channel member including individual channels respectively communicating with the multiple nozzles; multiple pressure generators to generate pressure to discharge the liquid from the multiple nozzles, respectively; a wiring member including a drive circuit; a protector adjacent to at least one side of the nozzle plate in a direction perpendicular to the discharge direction and overlapping the drive circuit of the wiring member in the discharge direction; a housing holding the protector, the nozzle plate, and the individual channel member; and a gas channel. The housing has a gas inlet; and a gas outlet. The gas channel is between the protector and the wiring member and communicates with each of the gas inlet and the gas outlet.

A drop-on-demand printing method comprising performing the following steps in a printing head: discharging a first primary drop (x21A) of a first liquid to move along a first path; discharging a second primary drop (x21B) of a second liquid to move along a second path; controlling the flight of the first primary drop (x21A) and the second primary drop (x21B) to combine the first primary drop with the second primary drop into a combined drop (x22) at a connection point (x32) within a reaction chamber within the printing head so that a chemical reaction is initiated within a controlled environment of the reaction chamber between the first liquid of the first primary drop and the second liquid of the second primary drop; and controlling the flight of the combined drop (x22) at least by means of a stream of gas (x71A, x71B).

The invention provides pneumatic shuttering of a focused or collimated aerosol particle stream. The aerosol stream can be collimated by an annular sheath of inert or non-inert gas. The apparatus propagates a sheathed aerosol stream through a series of aerodynamic lenses along the axis of a flow cell. The final lens is typically positioned above a substrate, so that direct material deposition is provided. A substantially perpendicularly-flowing gas external to the aerodynamic lens system is used to redirect the particle stream away from the flow axis and through an exhaust port, thereby shuttering the collimated aerosol stream. The pneumatic shutter enables printing of discreet structures, with on/off shuttering times of approximately 1 to 100 milliseconds.

A manifold is disclosed for introducing gas into a gap between a print head and an intermediate transfer member (ITM) of an indirect inkjet printing system. The manifold has a first gas flow path terminating in a first discharge mouth for delivering a continuous low speed gas stream and a second separate gas flow path terminating in a second discharge mouth, vertically spaced from the first discharge mouth, for intermittently delivering into the gap a high speed gas stream.

An inkjet printer for preventing ink flow, color blurring and color mixing during multicolor printing when image formation is performed with aqueous ink on a web-shaped printing base material, and an inkjet printing method using the inkjet printer. The inkjet printer is configured to perform image formation by discharging aqueous ink to a web-shaped printing base material, and includes: a conveyance mechanism configured to continuously convey the web-shaped printing base material; a single-pass system inkjet head configured to discharge the aqueous ink to a surface of the web-shaped printing base material conveyed by the conveyance mechanism; and a surface pre-heating unit arranged on an upstream side of conveyance from the single-pass system inkjet head and configured to heat at least the surface of the web-shaped printing base material. Image formation is performed on the web-shaped printing base material heated by the surface pre-heating unit.

A liquid ejection system includes a liquid ejection head configured to ejecting liquid, a liquid storage container that includes a liquid storage portion capable of storing the liquid that is to be supplied to the liquid ejection head, and a ventilation unit that constitutes at least a portion of an air introduction portion that is in communication with the liquid storage portion and is configured to introducing air into the liquid storage portion, and is detachable from the liquid storage container. The ventilation unit includes an introduction passage that constitutes at least a portion of a path of air flowing toward the liquid storage portion in the air introduction portion, and an air chamber that constitutes at least a portion of the introduction passage. The ventilation unit is arranged in the periphery of the liquid storage container.

The jetting frequency of droplets of printing fluid from a nozzle of an electrohydrodynamic printer is increased by 50% or more over previous e-jet printers. The charging electrode is strategically arranged to locate layers of material in the gap between the electrode and an extraction surface to provide a breakdown voltage in the gap that is higher than that of air. By locating a tip of the charging electrode inside the ink nozzle, non-conductive printing fluid in the nozzle and/or a non-conductive nozzle wall can provide dielectric strength in the gap that is relatively high, thereby increasing the maximum voltage of the extraction field. The printer offers other advantages, even when there are no high breakdown voltage materials in the gap between the electrode and extraction surface.

A liquid droplet ejecting method for ejecting a liquid from at least one ejection hole to form the liquid into liquid droplets, the method including: applying a vibration to the liquid in a liquid column resonance-generating liquid chamber, in which the ejection hole is formed, to form a standing wave through liquid column resonance, and ejecting the liquid from the ejection hole, which is formed in a region corresponding to an antinode of the standing wave, to form the liquid into liquid droplets.

Gas is blown at a predetermined speed from a predetermined area on an orifice substrate with reference to the position of an ejection port array.

In some examples, a system includes a printhead including a printer fluid nozzle, an air valve in fluid communication with a channel of the nozzle to: (1) create back pressure in the channel when the air valve is closed and printer fluid is ejected through the nozzle and (2) release back pressure in the channel when the air valve is open, an ejector to eject printer fluid through the nozzle to form a meniscus of printer fluid in the channel when the air valve is closed, a pressure sensor to measure pressure within the channel, and an indicator in electrical communication with the pressure sensor. The indicator can, for example, indicate whether there is an air leak in the channel by determining whether the pressure in the channel is within a predetermined pressure range after a predetermined idle time following the formation of the meniscus in the nozzle.