Fluid manifold and methods of making the same

Abstract

An ink manifold for use with a heater chip in an inkjet printhead, including a first planar surface and a second opposite planar surface, a plurality of ink channels located on the first planar surface of the ink manifold for supplying ink to the heater chip, and a plurality of ink ports located on the second opposite planar surface of the ink manifold, each of the plurality of ink ports being in liquid communication with a respective one of the plurality of ink channels, each of the plurality of ink channels having a bottom wall defined by bottom wall portions that rise from each ink port within the ink channel to a maximum height at an angle of at least 12 degrees.

Claims

1. An inkjet printhead, comprising: a heater chip; and an ink manifold coupled with the heater chip and comprising: a first surface comprising a plurality of ink channels in fluid communication with the heater chip; and a second surface that is opposite the first surface and comprising a plurality of ink ports, wherein two or more of the plurality of ink ports are in fluid communication with a corresponding one of the plurality of ink channels.

2. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of ink channels is defined by a pair of parallel walls extending from each ink port, said parallel walls having bottom portions that respectively incline from the each ink port within the ink channel to a height at an acute angle with respect to the first surface of the ink manifold.

3. The inkjet printhead of claim 2, wherein the bottom portions incline to the height at an angle of between 20 degrees and 30 degrees with respect to the first surface of the ink manifold.

4. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, wherein at least one ink port of the plurality of ink ports is rectangular or square.

5. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, wherein the plurality of ink ports are arranged in at least two longitudinal rows along the ink manifold.

6. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, wherein the plurality of ink ports are arranged in at least two transverse columns along the ink manifold.

7. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, wherein the ink manifold is coupled to the heater chip with adhesive.

8. An inkjet printer, comprising: an inkjet printhead comprising: a heater chip; and an ink manifold coupled with the heater chip and comprising: a first surface comprising a plurality of ink channels in fluid communication with the heater chip; and a second surface that is opposite the first surface and comprising a plurality of ink ports, wherein two or more of the plurality of ink ports are in fluid communication with a corresponding one of the plurality of ink channels.

9. The inkjet printer of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of ink channels is defined by a pair of parallel walls extending from each ink port, said parallel walls having bottom portions that respectively incline from the each ink port within the ink channel to a height at an acute angle with respect to the first surface of the ink manifold.

10. The inkjet printer of claim 9, wherein the bottom portions incline to the height at an angle of between 20 degrees and 30 degrees with respect to the first surface of the ink manifold.

11. The inkjet printer of claim 10, wherein the bottom portions incline to the height at an angle of at least 12 degrees with respect to the first surface of the ink manifold.

12. The inkjet printer of claim 8, further comprising a substrate fluidly coupled with the ink manifold through the plurality of ink ports to supply ink to the ink manifold.

13. The inkjet printer of claim 12, wherein the substrate is coupled to the ink manifold with a gasket seal.

14. The inkjet printer of claim 8, wherein the plurality of ink ports are arranged in at least two longitudinal rows or at least two transverse columns along the ink manifold.

15. An ink manifold for use with a heater chip in an inkjet printhead, comprising: a first surface comprising a plurality of ink channels in fluid communication with the heater chip; and a second surface that is opposite the first surface and comprising a plurality of ink ports, wherein two or more of the plurality of ink ports are in fluid communication with a corresponding one of the plurality of ink channels.

16. The ink manifold of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of ink channels is defined by a pair of parallel walls extending from each ink port, said parallel walls having bottom portions that respectively incline from the each ink port within the ink channel to a height at an acute angle with respect to the first surface of the ink manifold.

17. The ink manifold of claim 16, wherein the bottom portions incline to the height at an angle of between 20 degrees and 30 degrees with respect to the first surface of the ink manifold.

18. The ink manifold of claim 15, wherein at least one ink port of the plurality of ink ports is rectangular or square.

19. The ink manifold of claim 15, wherein the plurality of ink ports are arranged in at least two longitudinal rows along the ink manifold.

20. The ink manifold of claim 15, wherein the plurality of ink ports are arranged in at least two transverse columns along the ink manifold.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The features and advantages of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more fully understood with reference to the following, detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a conventional heater chip and ink manifold;

(3) FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view through the line A-A in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3A top side perspective view of a fluid manifold according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

(5) FIG. 3B is a bottom side perspective view of a fluid manifold according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

(6) FIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view through line B-B of FIG. 3A;

(7) FIG. 3D is a cross-sectional view through line C-C of FIG. 3A; and

(8) FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a fluid manifold joined with a base member and a heater chip according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(9) The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the words may and can are used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words include, including, and includes mean including but not limited to. To facilitate understanding, like reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate like elements common to the figures.

(10) FIG. 3A is a top side perspective view of a fluid manifold, generally designated by reference number 100, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 3B is a bottom side perspective view of the fluid manifold 100. The fluid manifold 100 is intended for use in an inkjet printer to deliver fluid, such as ink, to a heater chip, which in turn has the ability to jet the ink through a nozzle plate onto a substrate, such as paper. Such heater chips are well known in the art, and an exemplary heater chip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,210,660, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

(11) The fluid manifold 100 includes elongate fluid channels that are mirror images of backside ink trenches of the heater chip (such as the conventional heater chip shown in FIG. 1). In particular, the fluid channel 102 supplies ink to the backside ink trench 54 of the heater chip 40, the fluid channel 104 supplies ink to the backside ink trench 52 of the heater chip 40, the fluid channel 106 supplies ink to the backside ink trench 50 of the heater chip 40, the fluid channel 108 supplies ink to the backside ink trench 48 of the heater chip 40, and the fluid channel 110 supplies ink to the backside ink trench 46 of the heater chip 40. The fluid channels 102-110 may deliver different colored inks to each of the corresponding backside ink trenches 46-54 of the heater chip 40, such as, for example, cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink. In an alternative embodiment, the fluid channels 102 and 104 may be combined into a larger-width ink channel that supplies black ink to both of the backside ink trenches 52 and 54 of the heater chip 40.

(12) The ink manifold 100 is constructed with a number of fluid ports on the top side thereof, where each fluid port is connected internally to a respective fluid channel. In particular, ink ports 112, 114, 116 are coupled to fluid channel 102, fluid ports 118, 120, 122, 124 are coupled to fluid channel 104, fluid ports 126, 128, 130, 132 are coupled to fluid channel 106, fluid ports 134, 136, 138 are coupled to fluid channel 108, and fluid ports 140, 142, 144, 146 are coupled to fluid channel 110. The ink ports are illustrated as being square or rectangular, but could be other shapes. A base member (not shown) is disposed over the ink manifold 100 for interfacing the manifold 100 to the different sources of liquid ink.

(13) FIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view through line B-B of FIG. 3A, and FIG. 3D is a cross-sectional view through line C-C of FIG. 3A. As shown in FIG. 3C, the depth of each fluid channel varies along its length, and in particular, bottom wall portions of the fluid channel rise to a maximum height between each fluid port so that each fluid channel is shallowest between each fluid port. In this regard, the bottom wall portions on either side of each fluid port flare out from one another. For example, the bottom wall portions 111, 113 on either side of the fluid port 112 rise from an ink port to a maximum height at an angle of at least 12 as measured from the top surface of the manifold, and in a preferred embodiment the angle is within the range of 20 to 30. The angle is selected so that the depth profile of the fluid channels optimize air bubble mobility. In particular, the higher angle compared to conventional manifolds results in a more uniform velocity field capable of moving greater portion of bubbles out of the fluid channels. The higher angled geometry allows buoyancy force to move bubbles into the flow stream, minimizes amount of low velocity regions that can potentially trap air bubbles, and reduces total volume of ink required to evacuate air bubbles, which increases maintenance efficiency.

(14) As mentioned previously, the non-chip (top) surface of the fluid manifold 100 is fluidly connected to a plastic substrate which supplies filtered ink to the manifold 100 through the fluid ports 112-146. The manifold 100 may be made of ceramic. As shown in FIG. 4, in the case of ceramic, the connection between the fluid manifold 100 and the plastic substrate 150 is a gasket seal 160. The gasket seal 160 may be made of a compliant material, such as, for example, nitrile, propylene, silicone, polyurethane, and neoprene. In general, adhesive seals between ceramic and plastics are problematic due to the large differences in thermal expansion rates. This often causes adhesive joints to fail when large temperature changes take place. An adhesive 180 may be used to join the manifold 100 with a heater chip 170.

(15) By providing multiple smaller fluid ports on the non-chip side that are offset as shown in FIG. 3A, enough area is maintained between the fluid ports to allow a reliable gasket seal. In this regard, adjacent fluid ports are preferably separated by a distance within a range of 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm (as measured from a corner of one port to the closest corner of an adjacent port).

(16) While particular embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.