Inkjet printer with a pagewidth printhead having nozzle arrangements with an actuating arm having particular dimension proportions
View Patent ↗An inkjet printer has a pagewidth printhead with a plurality of nozzle arrangements. Each nozzle arrangement includes a substrate with an inlet channel etched therethrough, and nozzle chamber walls and a roof to define an ink chamber, with an ink ejection port defined in the roof inline with the inlet channel. The nozzle arrangement includes a thermal actuating arm inside the chamber, an upper side of the arm defining a displacement area that acts on ink in the chamber to eject ink via the ejection port. The displacement area is greater than half an area of the ink ejection port but less than twice the area of the ink ejection port.
1. An inkjet printer having a pagewidth printhead with a plurality of nozzle arrangements, each nozzle arrangement comprising:
a substrate with an inlet channel etched therethrough;
nozzle chamber walls and a roof to define an ink chamber, with an ink ejection port defined in the roof aligned with the inlet channel; and
a cantilevered thermal actuating arm having an upper side defining a displacement area within the chamber that acts on ink in the chamber through cantilevered movement of the arm to eject ink via the ejection port, the displacement area being greater than half an area of the ink ejection port but less than twice the area of the ink ejection port.
2. The inkjet printer of claim 1 , wherein the substrate includes a silicon wafer with a silicon dioxide drive circuitry layer deposited therein, with a passivation layer deposit on said circuitry layer for protection.
3. The inkjet printer of claim 1 , wherein the chamber walls include a pair of opposed sidewalls, a distal end wall and a proximal end wall spanned by the roof forming a substantially rectangular chamber.
4. The inkjet printer of claim 3 , wherein the actuator arm includes a movable member that extends into the nozzle chamber, the member dimensioned to span an area of the nozzle chamber from the proximal end wall to the distal end wall, the arm positioned between the ink inlet channel and the ink ejection port.
5. The inkjet printer of claim 4 , wherein the actuator arm extends through an opening defined in the proximal end wall to be mounted on an anchor formation on the substrate outside the nozzle chamber.
6. The inkjet printer of claim 5 , having a sealing arrangement positioned in the opening in the proximal end wall to inhibit the egress of ink from the nozzle chamber.
7. The inkjet printer of claim 4 , wherein the arm is manufactured from polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and defines an upper side and a lower side with a heating element positioned in the body proximate the lower side, the heating element defining a heating circuit connected to the drive circuitry layer with vias in the anchor formation.