Inkjet printhead with suspended heater element spaced from chamber walls
AssigneeSilverbrook Research Pty Ltd
InventorKia Silverbrook
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An inkjet printhead is provided having a substrate defining inlet passages, sidewalls extending from the substrate, and a nozzle plate supported by the sidewalls and defining nozzle apertures. The nozzle plate, the sidewalls and the substrate define chambers. The printhead further has a heater element suspended within each of the chambers. The heater element has a planar structure parallel to the plane of the nozzle plate, and a spacing between the heater element and each sidewall of the chamber is between 0.1 microns and 20 microns. The heater element heats a liquid in the chamber to form a gas bubble. The gas bubble causes the ejection of a drop of the liquid through the nozzle aperture.
Claims17
An inkjet printhead comprising:
- a substrate defining a plurality of inlet passages;
- sidewalls extending from the substrate;
- a nozzle plate defining a plurality of nozzle apertures supported by the sidewalls, a plurality of chambers being defined by the nozzle plate, the sidewalls and the substrate;
- and
- a heater element suspended within each of the chambers for heating a liquid in the chamber to form a gas bubble that causes the ejection of a drop of the liquid through the nozzle aperture, the heater element having a planar structure parallel to the plane of the nozzle plate,
- wherein a spacing between the heater element and each sidewall of the chamber is between 0.1 microns and 20 microns.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.