Nozzle arrangement with an actuator having iris vanes
Provided is a nozzle arrangement for an inkjet printhead. The nozzle arrangement includes a substrate defining an ink inlet, a roof portion defining an ejection port, the roof portion supported on said substrate by posts, and an actuator arranged between the posts and having four iris vanes each respectively arranged to form a wall of a chamber, said iris vanes operating in an iris-type manner to reduce a volume of the chamber to eject ink from the chamber via the ejection port.
1. A nozzle arrangement for an inkjet printhead, said nozzle arrangement comprising:
a substrate defining an ink inlet;
a roof portion defining an ejection port, the roof portion supported on said substrate by posts; and
an actuator arranged between the posts and having four iris vanes each respectively arranged to form a wall of a chamber, said iris vanes operating in an iris-type manner to reduce a volume of the chamber to eject ink from the chamber via the ejection port.
2. The nozzle arrangement of claim 1 , wherein each actuator vane includes an expanding arm fast with a rigid arm, with a serpentine heater fast with the expanding arm.
3. The nozzle arrangement of claim 2 , wherein the substrate include a CMOS layer for supplying an electrical current to the serpentine heater.
4. The nozzle arrangement of claim 3 , wherein the actuator vane is configured so that the rigid arm is anchored to the substrate proximate a displaceable end of another actuator vane, so that inward movement of each displaceable end of the vanes produces an iris-like movement of the vanes.
5. The nozzle arrangement of claim 4 , wherein the CMOS layer supplies electrical current to the heater elements to cause thermal expansion of the expanding arms to cause the iris movement of the vanes.
6. The nozzle arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the ink inlet in the substrate supplies the chamber with ink.
7. The nozzle arrangement of claim 2 , wherein the expanding arm is made from PTFE.