Acoustophoretic printing apparatus and method
AssigneePresident and Fellows of Harvard College
InventorsDaniele Foresti, Dimos Poulikakos, Manish Kumar Tiwari
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention contains a printing apparatus and a method, e.g., for ejecting inks (i.e., pure liquids, mixtures, colloids, etc.) for a very broad range of physical properties (such as viscosity). Acoustic forces 3a may be generated by an emitter 1 and a reflector 2 to detach droplets 10 from a nozzle 6. The ink may be advanced through the nozzle 6 by a standard back pressure system 5. A reflectorless chamber 7 may enhance acoustic forces 8a and the droplets 10 may be ejected at a bottom 9 of said chamber 7, so that droplets 10 may be deposited on any substrate 11.
Claims21
(canceled)
A printing apparatus comprising:
- an emitter arranged within a first fluid and configured to oscillate for generating an acoustic field in the first fluid;
- a nozzle with a nozzle opening placed at a predetermined position within the acoustic field;
- and
- a second fluid within the nozzle,
- wherein the nozzle is connected to a tubing for a fluidic connection between a second fluid reservoir and the nozzle opening.
A printing apparatus comprising:
- an emitter arranged within a first fluid and configured to oscillate for generating an acoustic field in the first fluid;
- a nozzle with a nozzle opening placed at a predetermined position within the acoustic field;
- and
- a second fluid within the nozzle,
- wherein the nozzle is introduced from a side wall or side surface of the printing apparatus.
A method of acoustophoretic printing, the method comprising:
- arranging a nozzle within a first fluid;
- generating an acoustic field in the first fluid by an oscillating emitter;
- and
- driving a second fluid out of the nozzle, thereby forming a pendant droplet of the second fluid at the nozzle opening, wherein acoustic forces from the acoustic field promote detachment of the pendant droplet from the nozzle opening,
- wherein oscillation of the oscillating emitter is set constant or is modulated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.