US 7,118,048 B2Granted

Apparatus and method for droplet steering

AssigneeEDC Biosystems, Inc.

InventorsRoger O. Williams, Michael R. Van Tuyl, Michael J. Forbush

Life of this patent

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Abstract

An apparatus and method for droplet steering is disclosed herein. A throated structure having a nozzle defines a converging throat with an inlet and an outlet and a vectored fluid stream directed therethrough. The fluid stream is driven through the system via a vacuum pump. As the fluid approaches the outlet, its velocity increases and is drawn away from the nozzle through a connecting channel. As a droplet is ejected from a liquid therebelow, it will have a first trajectory until it is introduced to the high velocity fluid stream at the perimeter of the interior walls of the nozzle. The fluid accordingly steers the momentum of the droplet such that it obtains a second or corrected trajectory. Alternative variations include an electrically chargeable member, e.g., a pin, positionable to be in apposition to the outlet and capillary tubes for controlling the ejection surface of the pool of source fluid.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A device for altering a trajectory of a droplet comprising:

a nozzle for accepting a fluid stream and at least one droplet having a first trajectory, the nozzle being shaped so that the fluid stream alters the first trajectory, the nozzle comprising an entrance port at a proximal end of the nozzle, an exit port at a distal end of the nozzle and a throat through which the fluid stream and the droplet move, with the throat extending from the entrance port to the exit port, and the entrance port having a first cross-sectional diameter taken perpendicular to a centerline that is centered in the throat and that extends from the proximal end to the distal end, and the exit port having a second cross-sectional diameter taken perpendicular to the centerline that is less than the first cross-sectional diameter, and the throat having a throat cross-sectional diameter taken perpendicular to the centerline with the throat cross-sectional diameter changing over most of the distance from the entrance port to the exit port;
and
wherein the first trajectory of the droplet traversing the throat is alterable by the fluid stream in the throat to a second trajectory without breaking apart the droplet.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/231,579Filed 21 Sep 2005 · continuation
Priority: 29 Oct 2001
Published: US 2006/0011744 A119 Jan 2006
Granted: 10 Oct 2006
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification2 codes

B41J 2/14008
Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads: structure of acoustic ink jet print heads
B41J
Typewriters

Family

Application60/348,429Us provisional application · filed 29 Oct 2001
Application10/006,489Parent of this continuation · filed 6 Dec 2001
US 2006/0011744 A1Pre-grant publication · published 19 Jan 2006
US 6,976,639 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2003/0080208 A1Published application
US 7,118,048 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.