Printer with printhead chip having ink channels reinforced by transverse walls
View Patent ↗An inkjet printer has a molded ink manifold bonded to a printhead by an adhesive film. The printhead has: (a) a plurality of nozzles formed on a frontside of a substrate, the nozzles being arranged in rows extending longitudinally along the substrate, each nozzle having a respective nozzle inlet; and (b) a plurality of ink supply channels extending longitudinally along a backside of the substrate. Each ink supply channel is configured for supplying ink from the backside to at least one corresponding row of nozzle inlets. Further, each ink supply channel is interrupted along its length by one or more transverse bridges. The transverse bridges provide the printhead integrated circuit with strength in a transverse direction.
1. An inkjet printer comprising:
a molded ink manifold bonded to a pagewidth inkjet printhead by an adhesive film, the molded ink manifold defining a plurality of longitudinal ink channels along a length thereof and further defining a plurality of outlets along a bottom of each of channel:
a printhead having a plurality of nozzles formed on a frontside of a monolithic wafer substrate, the nozzles being arranged in rows extending longitudinally along the substrate, each nozzle having a respective nozzle inlet extending partially through the monolithic wafer substrate; and
a plurality of ink supply channels defined in a backside surface of the monolithic wafer substrate and extending longitudinally along a backside of the substrate, each ink supply channel being deep enough to meet the nozzle inlets such that ink fed to the backside surface of the substrate is supplied to the nozzles on the frontside, the nozzles supplied with ink from one of the ink supply channels being different to the nozzles supplied with ink by another of the ink supply channels such that different ink colors are simultaneously printed, each ink supply channel being separated into channel sections by one or more transverse walls that structurally stiffen the monolithic wafer substrate, wherein
the molded ink manifold is bonded to the backside of the printhead and positioned to align each outlet with an ink supply channel,
the adhesive film bonding the printhead to the ink manifold has a plurality of openings positioned for ink flow from one of said outlets to an ink supply channel, and
each outlet and each opening is positioned over a transverse bridge, such that ink is supplied from the ink manifold to two channel sections on either side of the transverse bridge.