Refillable ink cartridge with inbuilt printhead
View Patent ↗A refillable ink cartridge that has a pagewidth printhead supported on a moulding assembly that defines the ink reservoirs. The printhead has a series of holes etched on a back surface thereof for the supply of ink to a front surface of the printhead for ejection. The moulding assembly has an elongate top moulding piece and an elongate bottom moulding piece that together define a plurality of elongate ink reservoirs. The bottom moulding piece having apertures for supplying ink to the series of holes on the back surface of the pagewidth printhead. Each of the ink reservoirs are in fluid communication with at least one of the apertures but each of the apertures are in fluid communication with only one of the ink reservoirs. Each of the ink reservoirs are in fluid communication with a respective refill port and corresponding air vent.
1. A refillable ink cartridge comprising:
a pagewidth printhead having a series of holes etched on a back surface thereof for the supply of ink to a front surface of the printhead for ejection;
an elongate top moulding piece; and
an elongate bottom moulding piece configured to operatively receive the top moulding piece to define a plurality of elongate ink reservoirs, said bottom moulding piece having apertures for supplying ink to the series of holes on the back surface of the pagewidth printhead, each of the ink reservoirs are in fluid communication with at least one of the apertures but each of the apertures are in fluid communication with only one of the ink reservoirs; wherein,
each of the ink reservoirs is in fluid communication with a respective refill port and corresponding air vent.
2. The cartridge of claim 1 , wherein the ink reservoirs each include an elongate sponge to stabilize ink in that respective reservoir.
3. The cartridge of claim 1 , wherein a series of air inlets are provided at a first end of the bottom moulding piece, each air inlet leading to a corresponding winding channel which is hydrophobically treated so as to act as an ink repellent and therefore repel any ink that may flow along the air inlet channel.
4. The cartridge of claim 3 , wherein each air inlet channel takes a convoluted path to assist in resisting any ink flow out of the ink reservoirs.
5. The cartridge of claim 3 , wherein an adhesive tape portion seals the series of air inlets at the first end of the bottom moulding piece.
6. The cartridge of claim 1 , wherein the refill ports are provided in the top moulding piece and, the cartridge further comprises plugs for sealing the refill ports.
7. The cartridge of claim 1 , wherein the bottom moulding piece has guide walls to fluidically seal the apertures from each other and separate the ink reservoirs, said guide walls being tapered into an end portion abutting the back surface of the printhead, The bottom moulding having block portions to mechanically support the guide walls at regular intervals along a length of the pagewidth printhead.