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US 8,616,675 B2Granted
Low-adhesion coating to eliminate damage during freeze/thaw of MEMSjet printheads
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsJames M. Casella, Andrew W. Hays, Peter M. Gulvin, Jun Ma
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Actuator ink chamber systems and methods of making the same and ink jet printheads. The actuator ink chamber systems and ink jet print heads having an ink chamber with a low-adhesion coating applied on at least one portion of the inner surface of the ink chamber to reduce or eliminate actuator membrane damage during ink freeze/thaw cycles.
Claims20
An actuator ink chamber system comprising:
- an ink chamber formed by a nozzle plate, a chamber sidewall, and an actuator member, wherein the actuator member is configured to eject ink from the ink chamber through a nozzle of the nozzle plate;
- and
- a low-adhesion coating disposed on at least one portion of an inner surface of the ink chamber, wherein the low-adhesion coating has a low sliding angle ranging from about 1° to about 30° with the ink in the ink chamber.
An ink jet printhead comprising:
- a plurality of actuator ink chamber systems, where each of the plurality of ink chamber systems comprises:
- a plate ceiling comprising a nozzle;
- an actuator member disposed substantially parallel to the plate ceding and configured to eject an ink drop through the nozzle of the plate ceiling;
- a chamber sidewall disposed between the plate ceiling and the actuator member to form an ink chamber;
- and
- a low-adhesion coating disposed on at least one portion of an inner surface of the ink chamber;
- wherein the low-adhesion coating has a low sliding angle ranging from about 1 to about 30° with a liquid selected from the group consisting of a UV gel ink, a solid ink, a phase-change ink, an aqueous-based ink, hexadecane, dodecane, hydrocarbon, water and a combination thereof.
4 more elements
A method of forming an actuator ink chamber system comprising:
- configuring a nozzle plate with one or more sidewalk to form an open on the nozzle plate and surrounded by the sidewalls;
- providing an actuator membrane;
- applying a low-adhesion coating to at least one surface portion of one or more of the opening and the actuator membrane;
- wherein the low-adhesion coating has a low sliding angle ranging from about 1° to about 30° with one or more of an oil-based ink and a water-based ink;
- and
- attaching the opening to the actuator membrane to form an ink chamber, wherein an inner surface of the ink chamber comprises the low-adhesion coating.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.