Printhead integrated circuit assembly with compensation controller
View Patent ↗This invention relates to a printhead integrated circuit assembly having a substrate, drive circuitry and a controller. The substrate includes a plurality of micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements formed thereon. The drive circuitry is positioned on the substrate for operatively actuating the respective nozzle arrangements to eject a drop of printing fluid therefrom. The controller is configured to monitor the power required to eject a drop from each nozzle, and to deactivate such nozzle and compensate with another nozzle if a required power level is exceeded.
1. A printhead integrated circuit assembly comprising:
a substrate having a plurality of micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements formed thereon;
drive circuitry positioned on the substrate for operatively actuating the respective nozzle arrangements to eject a drop of printing fluid therefrom; and
a controller configured to monitor the power required to eject a drop from each nozzle, and to deactivate such nozzle and compensate with another nozzle if a required power level is exceeded, wherein
the drive circuitry actuates a nozzle arrangement by causing a current to flow to an actuator beam thereof to produce thermal expansion of said beam.
2. The printhead integrated circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein the controller monitors the power required by monitoring the energy required to actuate the actuator beam.
3. The printhead integrated circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein the actuator beam is connected to the drive circuitry in the form of a CMOS layer by means of conductive pads.
4. The printhead integrated circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle arrangements are hexagonally shaped to allow for close packing of the nozzles on the substrate.
5. The printhead integrated circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein the nozzle arrangements are arranged in staggered rows on the substrate to allow for close packing of such nozzles.
6. The printhead integrated circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein each nozzle arrangement includes a containment formation to isolate leaked or misdirected ink from adjacent nozzle arrangements to prevent interference between nozzle arrangements.