Air expulsion arrangement for printhead assembly

Abstract

A printhead assembly comprises an elongate channel member of a metal alloy, a flexible elongate fluid carrier, and a series of printhead modules mounted to an external surface of the fluid carrier. The flexible elongate fluid carrier is positioned on a floor of the channel member, and defines a plurality of passages longitudinally extending along a length of the fluid carrier. The fluid carrier further defines a repeated pattern of holes on the external surface. The holes provide fluid communication from outside the fluid carrier to respective passages of the fluid carrier. Each printhead module includes an upper micro-molding and a lower micro-molding. The lower micro-molding has an air inlet slot in fluid communication with one of the plurality of passages via a hole of the repeated pattern of holes. The upper micro-molding has an exhaust hole aligned with the air inlet slot and through which air carried in one of the passages is expelled. Each repeated pattern of holes diagonally spans a width of the fluid carrier, and the repeated pattern of holes together span a length of the fluid carrier. The air expelled through the exhaust hole facilitates repulsion of a print media from the printhead.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.