Dispensing heads with fluid puddle limiting surface features
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsThomas R Strand, Jeffrey A Nielsen, James A Feinn, Stan E Leigh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are provided related to fluid dispensing heads. A dispense head is formed to define a plurality of fluid jetting nozzles and a surface pattern. The surface pattern is characterized by one or more voids extending inward from an outer surface of the dispense head. Fluid puddle formation during operation of the dispense head is limited in volume by way of the surface pattern. Fluid puddle limiting reduces or eliminates dispensing errors to an entity, undesirable artifacts from resulting on a printed media, or similar problems.
Claims16
A dispense head, comprising:
- a row of fluid-jetting nozzles each having a discharge end at an exposed outer face of a material;
- and
- a surface pattern on the exposed outer face of the material spaced apart from the discharge end of each nozzle such that there is un-patterned material everywhere between the surface pattern and each nozzle, the surface pattern including an abrupt edge extending continuously along a full length of the row of nozzles to limit a volume of a fluid puddle forming on the exposed outer face of the material during operation.
A fluid dispensing apparatus, comprising:
- a dispense head configured to eject fluid through a row of nozzles, each nozzle extending from a discharge end at an exposed outer face of the dispense head inward toward a corresponding firing chamber from which fluid may be dispensed through the nozzle, and where the exposed outer face includes an uninterrupted planar part next to and completely surrounding the discharge end of each nozzle and a channel adjoining the planar part and extending continuously along the row of nozzles to limit fluid puddle formations on the exposed outer face of the dispense head adjacent to the nozzles during operation;
- and
- a controller configured to control operation of the dispense head so as to dispense patterns of fluid to a receiving entity.
A dispense head, comprising:
- a first group of nozzles through which fluid may be dispensed from the head, the nozzles in the first group arranged along a first line;
- a second group of nozzles through which fluid may be dispensed from the head, the nozzles in the second group arranged along a second line parallel to the first line;
- a surface surrounding each of the nozzles;
- a first channel in the surface, the first channel spaced apart from the nozzles such that no part of the first channel intersects any of the nozzles, and the first channel extending along one side of the first group of nozzles opposite the second group of nozzles;
- and
- a second channel in the surface, the second channel spaced apart from the nozzles such that no part of the second channel intersects any of the nozzles, and the second channel extending along one side of the second group of nozzles opposite the first group of nozzles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.