Heating mechanism for warming the ink in the write head of an ink printer means

A write head of an ink printer including a device for warming ink, the write head comprising:

• a plurality of ink channels ending in discharge openings in the write head,
• individually drivable, electrothermal transducer elements as first heating elements allocated to every ink channel under whose influence the ink in a region of a transducer element in the ink channel is suddenly heated until an ink vapor bubble is formed,
• a write head carrier on which the write head is arranged that is large in area in comparison to the write head,
• a temperature sensor element mounted on the write head carrier,
• a regulating circuit means for producing a substantially constant load current to the write head,
• an additional heating element being a component part of a voltage regulator connected directly across supply leads of the regulating circuit, the additional heating element being an integrated circuit mounted in thermally conductive fashion on the write head carrier together with the temperature sensor element, said integrated circuit being operable at an active phase to regulate voltage across the supply leads and to simultaneously dissipate heat;
• and
• means for connecting the additional heating element to receive the constant load current from the regulating circuit means until an operating temperature is reached as a result of dissipated heat of the additional heating element warming the write head carrier and the ink in the write head to the operating temperature.