Drop ejection using immiscible working fluid and ink
AssigneeRF Printing Technologies LLC
InventorsRichard Mu, Yonglin Xie
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A drop ejection system includes a working fluid source containing a working fluid, an ink source containing an ink that is immiscible with the working fluid, and at least one drop ejector array module. Each drop ejector array module includes a substrate and an array of drop ejectors disposed on the substrate. Each drop ejector includes a nozzle; an ink inlet connected to the ink source; a working fluid inlet connected to the working fluid source; a pressure chamber in fluidic communication with the nozzle, the ink inlet, and the working fluid inlet; and a heating element configured to selectively vaporize a portion of the working fluid to pressurize the pressure chamber for ejecting ink drops through the nozzle.
Claims20
A drop ejection system comprising:
- a working fluid source containing a working fluid;
- an ink source containing an ink that is immiscible with the working fluid;
- and
- at least one drop ejector array module, each drop ejector array module including:
- a substrate;
- a nozzle plate;
- an array of drop ejectors disposed on the substrate, each drop ejector including:
- a nozzle disposed in the nozzle plate;
- an ink inlet extending through the substrate and connected to the ink source;
- a working fluid inlet extending through the substrate and connected to the working fluid source;
- a pressure chamber in fluidic communication with the nozzle, the ink inlet, and the working fluid inlet, wherein the ink is in direct contact with the working fluid at a fluid interface, the pressure chamber including:
- a top defined by the nozzle plate;
- and
- a bottom defined by the substrate, the bottom being opposite to the top;
- and
- a heating element disposed on the substrate within the pressure chamber configured to selectively vaporize a portion of the working fluid to pressurize the pressure chamber for ejecting ink drops through the nozzle.
A method of operating an immiscible working fluid ink drop ejection system comprising:
- providing at least one drop ejector array module, each drop ejector array module including:
- a substrate;
- a nozzle plate;
- an ink inlet;
- a working fluid inlet;
- an array of drop ejectors disposed on the substrate, each drop ejector including:
- a nozzle disposed in the nozzle plate;
- a pressure chamber in fluidic communication with the nozzle, the ink inlet, and the working fluid inlet, wherein the ink is in direct contact with the working fluid at a fluid interface, the pressure chamber including:
- a top defined by the nozzle plate;
- and
- a bottom defined by the substrate, the bottom being opposite to the top;
- and
- a heating element disposed on the substrate within the pressure chamber;
- pulsing the heating element to form a transient vapor bubble in the working fluid, thereby initiating a pressure wave;
- transmitting the pressure wave to the ink in the pressure chamber, thereby moving the fluid interface along a first direction toward the nozzle;
- and
- ejecting at least one ink drop through the nozzle along a second direction that is different from the first direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.