Printhead alignment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025042154-A1
Application number	US-202218719676-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 15, 2022
Priority date	Dec 21, 2021
Publication date	Feb 6, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A printhead assembly for an inkjet printer is described herein. The printhead assembly includes a printhead having a plurality of nozzles, a nozzle plate attached to the printhead, and a base plate attached to the nozzle plate by at least three fasteners that provide independent positioning of the nozzle plate with respect to the base plate in three independent dimensions. The printhead assembly has fluid connections between the printheads and a fluid manifold that has alignment features. The printhead assembly also has a tile structure that couples to the base plate, the tile structure having a first section flexibly coupled to a second section.

First claim

1 . A printhead assembly for an inkjet printer, the printhead assembly comprising:
a printhead comprising a plurality of nozzles; a nozzle plate attached to the printhead; and a base plate attached to the nozzle plate by at least three fasteners that provide independent positioning of the nozzle plate with respect to the base plate in three independent dimensions.

2 . The printhead assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the fasteners includes a shim.

3 . The printhead assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the fasteners is a conical screw.

4 . The printhead assembly of claim 3 , wherein at least one conical screw is positioned to provide rotational adjustment of the nozzle plate with respect to the base plate.

5 . The printhead assembly of claim 4 , wherein the at least one conical screw includes a first conical screw positioned to provide rotation of the nozzle plate with respect to the base plate and a second screw to provide linear movement of the nozzle plate with respect to the base plate.

6 . The printhead assembly of claim 5 , wherein the nozzle plate has a long dimension, a short dimension, a first end, and a second end opposite from the first end along the long dimension; and wherein the first conical screw is located at the first end and the second conical screw is located at the second end along a side of the nozzle plate.

7 . The printhead assembly of claim 1 , wherein a thermal expansion coefficient of the base plate is less than about 20×10 −6 /K.

8 . The printhead assembly of claim 1 , wherein the printhead is a first printhead, the nozzle plate is a first nozzle plate, and further comprising a second printhead attached to a second nozzle plate, wherein the second nozzle plate is attached to the base plate by at least three fasteners that provide independent positioning of the nozzle plate with respect to the base plate in two independent dimensions and fix a position of the second nozzle plate with respect to the base plate in one dimension independent of the two independent dimensions.

9 . The printhead assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a tile structure attached to the base plate at a first end of the tile structure and a fluid manifold attached to a second end of the tile structure opposite from the first end, the fluid manifold comprising at least two fluid connections and at least two manifold alignment features.

10 . The printhead assembly of claim 9 , further comprising an electrical component attached to the tile structure, the electrical component having a connection member positioned in a notch of the fluid manifold.

11 . The printhead assembly of claim 9 , wherein the fluid manifold has a wall that surrounds the fluid connections.

12 . The printhead assembly of claim 9 , wherein the fluid manifold has a recess to receive a manifold fastener.

13 . The printhead assembly of claim 12 , wherein the fluid manifold further comprises a sensor to sense presence of the manifold fastener.

14 . The printhead assembly of claim 13 , wherein the sensor is attached to a major surface of the fluid manifold.

15 . The printhead assembly of claim 9 , wherein the tile structure has a first member attached to the base plate and a second member attached to the fluid manifold, and wherein the first member is attached to the second member by a flexible connection.

16 . The printhead assembly of claim 9 , wherein the tile structure has an orientation feature.

17 . A printhead assembly for an inkjet printer, the printhead assembly comprising:
a support plate; a supply plate comprising a plurality of alignment features; a plurality of print tiles disposed between the support plate and the supply plate, each print tile comprising:
a plurality of printheads, each printhead comprising a plurality of nozzles;
a nozzle plate attached to each printhead;
a base plate attached to the nozzle plate by at least three fasteners that provide independent positioning of the nozzle plate with respect to the base plate in three independent dimensions; and
a fluid manifold comprising at least one alignment feature that matches one of the alignment features of the supply plate.

18 . The printhead assembly of claim 17 , wherein the supply plate further comprises a print tile guide.

19 . The printhead assembly of claim 17 , wherein the support plate further comprises a print tile guide.

20 . The printhead assembly of claim 17 , wherein the support plate further comprises a print tile guide, the supply plate further comprises a print tile guide, and the print tile comprises a tile structure comprising a first section flexibly coupled to a second section, the second section coupled to the base plate.

Assignees

• Kateeva Inc

Inventors

• Taff Robert D
• Buchner Christopher

Classifications

• B41J25/001 Primary

  Mechanisms for bodily moving print heads or carriages parallel to the paper surface · CPC title

• B41J2202/20

  Modules · CPC title

• B41J2202/15

  Moving nozzle or nozzle plate · CPC title

• B41J25/003

  for changing the angle between a print element array axis and the printing line, e.g. for dot density changes · CPC title

• B41J2/1433 Primary

  Structure of nozzle plates · CPC title