Infrared imaging and acoustic sizing of a bubble inside a MEMS piezo ink channel

Piezo drop-on-demand inkjet printers are used in an increasing number of applications because of their reliable deposition of droplets onto a substrate. Droplets of a few picoliters are ejected from an inkjet nozzle at frequencies of up to 100 kHz. However, the entrapment of an air microbubble in the ink channel can severely impede the productivity and reliability of the printing system. The air bubble disturbs the channel acoustics, resulting in disrupted drop formation or failure of the jetting process. Here we study a micro-electro-mechanical systems-based printhead. By using the actuating piezo transducer in receive mode, the acoustical field inside the channel was monitored, clearly identifying the presence of an air microbubble inside the channel during failure of the jetting process. The infrared visualization technique allowed for the accurate sizing of the bubble, including its dynamics, inside the intact printhead. A model was developed to calculate the mutual interaction between the channel acoustics and the bubble dynamics. The model was validated by simultaneous acoustical and infrared detection of the bubble. The model can predict the presence and size of entrapped air bubbles inside an operating ink channel purely from the acoustic response

Sticky bubbles

We discuss the physical forces that are required to remove an air bubble immersed in a liquid from a corner. This is relevant for inkjet printing technology, as the presence of air bubbles in the channels of a printhead perturbs the jetting of droplets. A simple strategy to remove the bubble is to ush the ink past the bubble by providing a high pressure pulse. In this report we rst compute the viscous drag forces that such a ow exerts on the bubble. Then, we compare this to the \sticking forces" on the bubble, due to the capillary interaction with the wall. From this we can estimate the required ow velocities for bubble removal, as a function of channel geometry, contact angle and ink properties. Finally, we investigate other ways to exert a force on a trapped bubble. In particular we focus on forces induced by electric elds which can alter the contact angle of the drop, or by locally applying thermal gradients. Once again, these forces are compared to the sticking forces to identify the parameters where the bubble can be removed

Bubbles in inkjet printheads: analytical and numerical models

The phenomenon of nozzle failure of an inkjet printhead due to entrainment of air bubbles was studies using analytical and numerical models. The studied inkjet printheads consist of many channels in which an acoustic field is generated to eject a droplet. When an air bubble is entrained, it disrupts the droplet formation process. This phenomenon is called nozzle failure. A very simple analytical model of a bubble in a nozzle was shown to qualitatively capture the dependence of the droplet velocity on the bubble volume. A more advanced model in which the two-way coupling between the channel acoustics and the bubble volume oscillations is taken into account, is shown to quantitatively agree with experimental data. The two-way coupling between bubble volume oscillations and channel acoustics is essential in this case. To determine when two-way coupling can be neglected, a complete set of dimensionless groups is derived. This set of dimensionless groups yields sharp criteria for the significance of two-wat coupling and for nonlinearity in the volume oscillations. A fully nonlinear numerical model is developed to test the predictions from the dimensionless groups. The predictions are confirmed by the results from the numerical model. This model is extended to also calculate the translational motion of the bubble and its growth by rectified diffusion. The effects that cause air entrainment were also studied. The outside of the printhead is coated by a thin ink film. This ink film flows whenever the printhead is actuated due to Marangoni stress. This flow is the first link in a chain of events that causes air entrainment. A careful analysis of the governing equations shows that these thin Marangoni flows satisfy potential flow. This result is used to analytically calculate the evolution of a moving droplet and a fingering instability, and the theoretical predictions are confirmed by the observations