Electrospray printer
AssigneeThe Research Foundation for The State University of New York
InventorsBryce James Kingsley, Paul Rudolph Chiarot
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electrospray printing system that produces conformal films includes a printhead. A housing of the printhead includes a solution reservoir operable to receive a solution that includes a print material suspended in a solvent. An electrical potential is applied to the solution to produce an electrically charged solution that is emitted from the solution reservoir towards a target substrate. Electrostatic focusing is used to guide the print material to the target substrate.
Claims20
A printhead for an electrospray printing system, the printhead comprising:
- a housing;
- a mixing receptacle in the housing and operable to receive at a first inlet a solution and receive at a second inlet an electrical potential that is applied to the solution to produce an electrically charged solution, the solution comprising a print material suspended in a solvent;
- an emitter in the housing and operable to receive the electrically charged solution at a third inlet and emit the electrically charged solution at an outlet, the electrical potential producing an electric field that directs electrically charged droplets towards an orifice of the printhead, the electrically charged droplets comprising the print material suspended in the solvent;
- and
- at least one air flow inlet in the housing and operable to provide a flow of air into the printhead.
An electrospray printing system, comprising:
- a printhead, comprising:
- a housing;
- a mixing receptacle in the housing and operable to receive at a first inlet a solution and receive at a second inlet an electrical potential that is applied to the solution to produce an electrically charged solution, the solution comprising a print material suspended in a solvent;
- and
- an emitter in the housing and operable to output the electrically charged solution toward an orifice of the printhead;
- a power supply operably connected to the mixing receptacle;
- and
- a device operable to supply the solution to the mixing receptacle, wherein:
- after the electrically charged solution is emitted from the emitter, a plume of electrically charged droplets form in the printhead, the electrically charged droplets comprising the print material suspended in the solvent;
- and
- the electrical potential produces an electric field within the printhead that is operable to guide a spray of electrically charged particles to a target substrate, the electrically charged particles comprising the print material.
A method of electrospray printing, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a printhead, a solution comprising a print material suspended in a solvent;
- receiving, at the printhead, an electrical potential that is applied to the solution to produce an electrically charged solution;
- emitting, into the printhead, the electrically charged solution that transitions into, within the printhead, a plume of electrically charged droplets that comprise the print material suspended in the solvent;
- and
- emitting, onto a target substrate, a spray of electrically charged particles, the electrically charged particles comprising the print material, wherein an electric field that is created by the electrical potential guides the plume of electrically charged droplets within the printhead and guides the spray of electrically charged particles onto the target substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.