Print assembly and printer having wide printing zone
View Patent ↗A print assembly is provided having an elongate carrier that is mountable on a support structure of a printer, printhead integrated circuits mounted on the carrier, and control circuitry positioned on the carrier and operatively connected to the printhead integrated circuits to control operation thereof. The printhead integrated circuits are provided in a number and configuration such that the printhead integrated circuits define an elongate printing zone of at least 914 mm. Each printhead integrated circuit incorporates nozzle arrangements each having a nozzle, an ink chamber, an ink inlet, an actuator, and a drive circuit to achieve the ejection of ink from the nozzle arrangement. The print assembly has more than 150,000 of the nozzle arrangements.
1. A print assembly comprising:
an elongate carrier mountable on a support structure of a printer;
a plurality of printhead integrated circuits mounted on the carrier, the printhead integrated circuits being provided in a number and configuration such that the printhead integrated circuits define an elongate printing zone of at least 914 mm, each printhead integrated circuit incorporating a plurality of nozzle arrangements, each nozzle arrangement comprising a nozzle, an ink chamber, an ink inlet, an actuator, and a drive circuit to achieve the ejection of ink from the nozzle arrangement; and
control circuitry positioned on the carrier and operatively connected to the printhead integrated circuits to control operation thereof,
wherein said print assembly comprises more than 150,000 said nozzle arrangements.
2. A print assembly as claimed in claim 1 , comprising at least 200,000 nozzle arrangements.
3. A print assembly as claimed in claim 2 , comprising between 300,000 and 800,000 nozzle arrangements.
4. A print assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein between 40 and 100 printhead integrated circuits are mounted on the carrier.
5. A print assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the drive circuit of each nozzle arrangement is defined by CMOS drive circuitry on a silicon wafer substrate on which each printhead integrated circuit is formed.
6. A print assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the printhead integrated circuits are each positioned at a common angle of greater than zero degrees and less than ninety degrees with respect to a straight line extending at right angles to a feed direction of print media, with consecutive ends of the printhead integrated circuits overlapping to ensure continuous printing in the printing zone.
7. A print assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the a plurality of modules are detachably mounted on the carrier, one printhead integrated circuit being incorporated in each module.
8. A print assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein an ink reservoir assembly is mounted on the carrier in fluid communication with the printhead integrated circuits, the ink reservoir assembly being configured to supply the printhead integrated circuits with at least three inks of different colors.
9. A print assembly as claimed in claim 1 , comprising at least one flexible printed circuit board interconnected between the control circuitry and the drive circuit of each printhead integrated circuit.
10. A pagewidth inkjet printer comprising:
a support structure;
a print assembly as claimed in claim 1 supported by the support structure; and
a feed mechanism supported by the support structure for feeding print media though the printing zone.