Printhead liquid delivery and gas removal
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsDavid Ridgway Otis, Jr., Si-lam Julius Choy, Kevin Edward Swier, David N. Olsen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In one example, a liquid delivery and gas removal system for a printhead. The system includes a pump to provide a liquid at a positive pressure. The system also includes a filter fluidically coupled to the pump to receive the pressurized liquid at an upstream side, at a first pressure push the liquid through the filter to a downstream side, and at a higher second pressure push gas bubbles in the liquid through the filter to the downstream side. The system further includes a vent having a gas-permeable membrane. A wet side of the membrane is fluidically coupled to the downstream side and to a printhead. A vacuum is applied to a dry side of the membrane.
Claims15
A liquid delivery and gas removal system for a printhead, comprising:
- a pump to provide a liquid at a positive pressure;
- a filter fluidically coupled to the pump to
- receive the pressurized liquid at an upstream side,
- at a first pressure push the liquid through the filter to a downstream side, and
- at a higher second pressure push gas bubbles in the liquid through the filter to the downstream side;
- and
- a vent having a gas-permeable membrane, a wet side of the membrane fluidically coupled to the downstream side and to a printhead, and a vacuum applied to a dry side of the membrane, wherein the vent is a sole vent in the system.
A liquid delivery and gas removal system for a printbar, comprising:
- M liquid ejection element squads collectively spanning a printable width of a medium while stationary, each squad having N linear printhead slivers of liquid ejection elements, each sliver for a different liquid;
- N fluidic paths, each path for one of the different liquids and one of the N slivers in each squad, each path including
- a pump to provide liquid to a filter and to push the liquid and gas bubbles in the liquid through the filter into an enclosure fluidically coupled to the corresponding slivers, and
- a sole vent per fluidic path, the vent having a gas-permeable membrane including a wet side, in contact with the liquid, at an upper portion of the enclosure, a vacuum applied to an opposing dry side of the membrane to pull gas bubbles at the liquid side through the membrane.
A method for delivering liquid to a printhead, comprising:
- supplying a liquid including gas bubbles therein to a filter under pressure;
- pushing the liquid through the filter to a fluidic enclosure using a first pressure;
- pushing first gas bubbles collected at the filter through the filter to the enclosure using a higher second pressure;
- collecting the first gas bubbles at a wet side, in contact with the liquid, of a gas-permeable membrane of a vent disposed at a top of the enclosure;
- collecting at the wet side second gas bubbles of the enclosure;
- and
- applying a vacuum to a dry side of the membrane to remove gas by pulling the collected first and second gas bubbles through the membrane, wherein the liquid is delivered to the printhead via a liquid delivery and gas removal system, and wherein the vent is the sole vent in the system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.