Fluid tank with flexible membrane for a flow-through printhead
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsNorimasa Sohgawa, Hiroshi Nishimura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Fluid tanks for providing a print fluid to a printhead. In one embodiment, the fluid tank includes a first reservoir configured to contain a print fluid, and a second reservoir configured to contain the print fluid. The fluid tank further includes a first Input/Output (I/O) port configured to fluidly couple with a printhead to allow the print fluid to flow into or out of the first reservoir, and a second I/O port configured to fluidly couple with the printhead to allow the print fluid to flow into or out of the second reservoir. The fluid tank further includes a flexible membrane between the first reservoir and the second reservoir configured to flex to create a pressure difference between the first reservoir and the second reservoir.
Claims20
A fluid tank comprising:
- a first reservoir configured to contain a print fluid;
- a second reservoir configured to contain the print fluid;
- a first Input/Output (I/O) port configured to fluidly couple with a printhead to allow the print fluid to flow into or out of the first reservoir;
- a second I/O port configured to fluidly couple with the printhead to allow the print fluid to flow into or out of the second reservoir;
- and
- a flexible membrane between the first reservoir and the second reservoir configured to flex to create a pressure difference between the first reservoir and the second reservoir.
An apparatus comprising:
- a flow-through printhead mounted on a carriage assembly configured to reciprocate in a sub-scan direction in relation to a medium;
- wherein the flow-through printhead has a row of jetting channels configured to jet droplets of a print fluid, a supply manifold fluidly coupled to the row of jetting channels, and a return manifold fluidly coupled to the row of jetting channels;
- and
- a fluid tank comprising:
- a first reservoir fluidly coupled to the supply manifold;
- a second reservoir fluidly coupled to the return manifold;
- and
- a flexible membrane between the first reservoir and the second reservoir configured to oscillate in response to movement of the carriage assembly to create a pressure difference between the first reservoir and the second reservoir.
An apparatus comprising:
- a flow-through printhead mounted on a carriage assembly configured to reciprocate in a sub-scan direction in relation to a medium;
- wherein the flow-through printhead has a row of jetting channels configured to jet droplets of a print fluid, a supply manifold fluidly coupled to the row of jetting channels, and a return manifold fluidly coupled to the row of jetting channels;
- and
- a fluid tank comprising:
- a first reservoir fluidly coupled to the supply manifold;
- a second reservoir fluidly coupled to the return manifold;
- and
- a rigid partition between the first reservoir and the second reservoir;
- wherein the first reservoir includes a first flexible side wall, and the second reservoir includes a second flexible side wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.