Electro-wetting-on-dielectric printing
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsJun Zeng, Haggai Karlinski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electro-wetting-on-dielectric printing system includes a drum and an electrode array disposed on a surface of the drum, which is made up of individually addressable electrodes and an ink-phobic coating overlaying the electrodes. Electrically charging a portion of the electrodes allows ink to adhere to a portion of the ink-phobic coating in proximity to the charged electrodes. A method for electro-wetting-on-dielectric printing includes selectively charging individually addressable electrodes within an electrode array, and passing the electrode array through an ink bath, wherein ink adheres areas proximate to charged electrodes to form an image. The image is then transferred to the substrate.
Claims19
An electro-wetting-on-dielectric printing system comprising:
- a drum;
- and
- an electrode array disposed on a surface of said drum, said electrode array comprising:
- individually addressable electrodes;
- and
- an ink-phobic coating overlaying said electrodes, and
- a charging module configured to selectively charge at least a portion of said electrodes;
- wherein electrically charging at least a portion of said electrodes allows ink to adhere to a portion of said ink-phobic coating in proximity to a charged electrode.
An electro-wetting-on-dielectric printing system comprising:
- a drum;
- an electrode array disposed on a surface of said drum, said electrode array comprising:
- individually addressable electrodes;
- and
- an ink-phobic coating overlaying said electrodes, said ink-phobic coating having one or more ink repelling characteristics, said ink-phobic coating preventing an ink from adhering to said surface of said drum;
- a charging module, said charging module selectively charging at least a portion of said electrodes to counteract said ink repelling characteristics;
- an ink bath, said electrode array being passed through said ink bath, wherein ink adheres to a portion of said ink-phobic coating in proximity to said at least a portion of said electrodes to form an image;
- a transfer drum, said transfer drum receiving said image and transferring said image to a substrate;
- a decharging module, said decharging module substantially reducing said electrical charge in said electrodes;
- and
- a cleaning station, said cleaning station removing residual ink from said ink-phobic coating.
A method for electro-wetting-on-dielectric printing comprising:
- coating individually addressable electrodes within an electrode array with an ink-phobic coating;
- selectively charging said individually addressable electrodes within said electrode array;
- passing said electrode array through an ink bath, wherein ink adheres areas proximate to charged electrodes to form an image;
- and
- transferring said image onto a substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.