Supply mechanism for an inkjet printhead
View Patent ↗An ink supply unit for supplying separate color inks to a portable ink jet print head, the ink supply unit including: a slot for insertion of the printhead; a series of elongated chambers for the storage of the separate color inks, the chambers being interconnected with the slot for the supply of ink to the printhead; a series of conductive rails along the outside of the ink supply unit, each conductive rail interconnected to a power supply at a series of points along the conductive rail; a tape automated bonding strip along the outside of the ink supply unit having a series of control lines along one surface thereof for mating with a corresponding external series of control lines, the tape automated bonding strip further having a repeating series of interconnects to the printhead, the interconnects interconnecting the control lines and the conductive rails to the printhead. The unit can be detachable from the power supply and the external series of control lines.
1. A portable ink jet printer comprising:
a printhead comprising a plurality of nozzle chambers, each nozzle chamber housing an ink ejection actuator for ejecting ink from said nozzle chamber,
an ink jet supply unit connected directly to said printhead and including at least one storage chamber for holding ink and for communicating ink to said nozzle chambers, said ink supply unit including a series of spaced apart baffles disposed between said at least one storage chamber and said nozzle chambers and configured so as to reduce acceleration of the ink within the unit as may be induced by movement of the portable printer, whilst allowing for flows of the ink to the printhead in response to active demand from said printhead.
2. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein said ink supply unit has an ink distribution manifold that supplies the ink via a plurality of ink outlets to corresponding ink supply passages formed on the printhead.
3. A printer according to claim 2 , wherein the printhead is an elongate pagewidth printhead and the baffles in the ink supply unit are configured along longitudinally extending channels provided in said ink supply unit.
4. A printer according to claim 3 , wherein at least some of the baffles extend in directions transverse to the longitudinal extent of tho printhead.
5. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the ink supply unit has a series of storage chambers for holding separate color inks.
6. A printer according to claim 5 , wherein the ink storage chambers are constructed from molded components.
7. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the printhead is a printhead chip.
8. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein the ink storage chamber is constructed from molded components.
9. A printer according to claim 8 , constructed from two or more interconnected components.
10. A printer according to claim 9 , wherein the ink supply unit includes three or more said ink storage chambers, each having said baffles disposed therein.
11. A printer according to claim 10 , including a piercable wall portion in each said ink storage chamber for connection thereto of an ink supply conduit connecting to a bulk ink supply source.
12. A printer according to claim 9 , wherein said components are injection molded.
13. A printer according to claim 8 , wherein said components are injection molded.
14. A printer according to claim 1 , wherein said ink supply unit includes a housing having a series of hydrophobically sealed breather holes.
15. An ink supply unit as claimed in claim 14 , wherein said housing comprises molded chambers that comprise two separate parts which are sealed together to form said ink supply unit.