Patent Publication Number: US-7901038-B2

Title: Printhead assembly incorporating heat aligning printhead modules

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/164,103 filed Jun. 30, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/330,057 filed on Jan. 12, 2006, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,404,620, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/882,764 filed on Jul. 2, 2004, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,736, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/129,437 filed on May 6, 2002, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,793,323, which is a 371 of PCT/AU01/00260 filed on Mar. 9, 2001, all of which are herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to printers, and in particular to inkjet printers. 
     CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS 
     Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on 24 May 2000: 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 PCT/AU00/00578 
                 PCT/AU00/00579 
                 PCT/AU00/00581 
                 PCT/AU00/00580 
               
               
                 PCT/AU00/00582 
                 PCT/AU00/00587 
                 PCT/AU00/00588 
                 PCT/AU00/00589 
               
               
                 PCT/AU00/00583 
                 PCT/AU00/00593 
                 PCT/AU00/00590 
                 PCT/AU00/00591 
               
               
                 PCT/AU00/00592 
                 PCT/AU00/00584 
                 PCT/AU00/00585 
                 PCT/AU00/00586 
               
               
                 PCT/AU00/00594 
                 PCT/AU00/00595 
                 PCT/AU00/00596 
                 PCT/AU00/00597 
               
               
                 PCT/AU00/00598 
                 PCT/AU00/00516 
                 PCT/AU00/00517 
                 PCT/AU00/00511 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending application, PCT/AU00/01445, filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on 27 Nov. 2000. The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by cross-reference. Also incorporated by cross-reference are the disclosures of two co-filed PCT applications, PCT/AU01/00261 and PCT/AU01/00259 (deriving priority from Australian Provisional Patent Application No. PQ6110 and PQ6158). Further incorporated are the disclosures of two co-pending PCT applications filed 6 Mar. 2001, application numbers PCT/AU01/00238 and PCT/AU01/00239, which derive their priority from Australian Provisional Patent Application nos. PQ6059 and PQ6058. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Recently, inkjet printers have been developed which use printheads manufactured by micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) techniques. Such printheads have arrays of microscopic ink ejector nozzles formed in a silicon chip using MEMS manufacturing techniques. The invention will be described with particular reference to silicon printhead chips for digital inkjet printers wherein the nozzles, chambers and actuators of the chip are formed using MEMS techniques. However, it will be appreciated that this is in no way restrictive and the invention may also be used in many other applications. 
     Silicon printhead chips are well suited for use in pagewidth printers having stationary printheads. These printhead chips extend the width of a page instead of traversing back and forth across the page, thereby increasing printing speeds. The probability of a production defect in an eight inch long chip is much higher than a one inch chip. The high defect rate translates into relatively high production and operating costs. 
     To reduce the production and operating costs of pagewidth printers, the printhead may be made up of a series of separate printhead modules mounted adjacent one another, each module having its own printhead chip. To ensure that there are no gaps or overlaps in the printing produced by adjacent printhead modules it is necessary to accurately align the modules after they have been mounted to a support beam. Once aligned, the printing from each module precisely abuts the printing from adjacent modules. 
     Unfortunately, the alignment of the printhead modules at ambient temperature will change when the support beam expands as it heats up to the temperature it maintains during operation. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, a printhead assembly for a printer comprises a support member having a silicon core mounted within a metal channel; a plurality of printhead modules mounted on the support member, each printhead module including an integrated circuit manufactured using micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS) techniques; and an elastomeric layer positioned between the core and the metal channel. The printhead modules and support members are configured to move into alignment with each other upon heating of the printhead assembly, and each printhead module is mounted to the silicon core with a neck portion. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows a schematic cross section of a printhead assembly according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the FIGURE the printhead assembly  1  has a plurality of printhead modules  2  mounted to a support member  3  in a printer (not shown). The printhead module includes a silicon printhead chip  4  in which the nozzles, chambers, and actuators are manufactured using MEMS techniques. Each printhead chip  4  has at least 1 fiducial (not shown) for aligning the printheads. Fiducials are reference markings placed on silicon chips and the like so that they may be accurately positioned using a microscope. 
     According to one embodiment of the invention, the printheads are aligned while the printer is operational and the assembly is at the printing temperature. If it is not possible to view the fiducial marks while the printer is operating, an alternative system of alignment is to misalign the printhead modules on the support beam  3  such that when the printhead assembly heats up to the operating temperature, the printheads move into alignment. This is easily achieved by adjusting the microscope by the set amount of misalignment required or simply misaligning the printhead modules by the required amount. 
     The required amount is calculated using the difference between the coefficients of thermal expansion of the printhead modules and the support beam, the length of each individual printhead module and the difference between ambient temperature and the operating temperature. The printer is designed to operate with acceptable module alignment within a temperature range that will encompass the vast majority of environments in which it expected to work. A typical temperature range may be 0° C. to 40° C. During operation, the operating temperature of the printhead rise a fixed amount above the ambient temperature in which the printer is operating at the time. Say this increase is 50° C., the temperature range in which the alignment of the modules must be within the acceptable limits is 50° C. to 90° C. Therefore, when misaligning the modules during production of the printhead, the production temperature should be carefully maintained at 20° C. to ensure that the alignment is within acceptable limits for the entire range of predetermined ambient temperatures (i.e. 0° C. to 40° C.). 
     To minimize the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between the printhead modules and the support beam  3 , the support beam has a silicon core  5  mounted within a metal channel  6 . The metal channel  6  provides a strong cost effective structure for mounting within a printer while the silicon core provides the mounting points for the printhead modules and also helps to reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion of the support beam  3  as a whole. To further isolate the silicon core from the high coefficient of thermal expansion in the metal channel  6  an elastomeric layer  7  is positioned between the core  5  and the channel  6 . The elastomeric layer  7  allows limited movement between the metal channel  6  and the silicon core  5 . 
     The invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. The ordinary worker in this field will readily recognise that the invention may be embodied in many other forms.