Ink supply for printer in portable electronic device
View Patent ↗A pagewidth inkjet printer for a portable electronic device. The printhead has an array of nozzles for printing on a media substrate. An ink supply manifold establishes fluid communication between an ink supply and the nozzle array. The manifold defines a tortuous fluid path that dampens any fluid flows caused by movement of the device. Feeding ink along the entire length of the pagewidth printhead via a tortuous path through a manifold will allow the relatively slow ink flows cause by nozzle refills, but will resist the faster ink flows caused by user handling of the device.
1. An inkjet printer for a portable electronic device, the printer comprising:
a pagewidth printhead with an array of nozzles for printing on a media substrate;
an ink supply path comprising a plurality of chambers for storing ink, and a manifold for establishing fluid communication between said chambers and the nozzle array, wherein the ink supply path is a tortuous fluid path that dampens any fluid flows caused by movement of the device;
wherein the tortuous path is defined by a series of baffles within the chambers.
2. An inkjet printer according to claim 1 wherein the ink supply supplies three colours of ink to the printhead and the manifold defines three separate fluid paths to the corresponding nozzle of the array.
3. An inkjet printer according to claim 1 wherein the manifold has hydrophobic breather holes to allow ink to fill the manifold but resist ink leakage.
4. An inkjet printer according to claim 1 wherein the device is a PDA.
5. An inked printer according to claim 1 wherein the device is a cellular telephone.
6. An inkjet printer according to claim 1 wherein the device is a digital camera.