• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.1 s.256
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• pp.51-61
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• 2007

This paper presents numerical and theoretical studies of acoustic wave interactions in slightly compressible liquids within piezoelectrically driven inkjet print heads. The interconnected flow channels may cause jet crosstalk, resulting in poor printing quality. It should be reduced by modifying the channel structure with the acoustic wave interactions considered. Compressible gas flow driven by the sudden movement of a top wall in the channel is calculated using Flow3D and is validated with the narrow gap theory. Limited compressibility model of the Flow3D is employed to calculate pressure waves of slightly compressible ink flow. It is found that reducing restrictor width can damp out the jet crosstalk by inhibiting the pressure wave propagation. The degree of crosstalk has been quantified using the maximum values of cross-correlations between neighboring channels and a critical channel dimension for acceptable crosstalk has been proposed. This finding is verified by drop visualization experiments using silicon-micromachined piezo inkjet print heads that are fabricated by our group.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.10 s.253
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• pp.1003-1011
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• 2006

Droplets are ejected onto a substrate through a nozzle by pushing liquids in flow channels of drop-on-demand devices. The behavior of ejection and formation of droplets is investigated to enhance the physical understanding of the hydrodynamics involved in inkjet printing. The free surface phenomenon of a droplet is described using $CFD-ACE^{TM}$ which employs the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method with the piecewise linear interface construction (PLIC). Droplet formation characteristics are analyzed in various flow regimes with different Ohnesorge numbers. The computational results show that the droplet formations are strongly dependent on the physical properties of working fluids and the inlet flow conditions. In addition, the wetting characteristics of working fluids on a nozzle influence the volume and velocity of a droplet produced in the device. This study may provide an insight into how a liquid droplet is formed and ejected in a piezoelectric inkjet printing device.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.455-460
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• 2007

A self-sensing circuit for piezo inkjet has been designed in order to monitor the operating condition during printing. In order to verify the circuit, both ink droplet images from strobe LED and vibration signals from the laser vibrometer were measured and compared with self-sensing signal. Experimental results show that self-sensing signal was effective in detecting the pressure wave change due to the bubble trapped in inkjet printhead.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.9-13
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• 2008

The reproducibility of water droplet formation which is indispensible in the investigation of a drop-on-demand piezoelectrically driven inkjet was verified by checking the size of droplet and distance from the nozzle tip of inkjet head to droplet. Based on the reproducibility of droplet formation, we visualized the formation of micro-scale droplets by acquiring consecutive images at the jetting frequency of 500 Hz for which air bubbles were not generated. Two different electric waveforms were used to drive the piezoelectric actuator. The visualization system consists of a high-speed camera that can capture images up to 250,000fps, a long-distance microscope and a halogen lamp as a light source.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.143-147
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• 2009

Inkjet printing makes use of ink droplets to form required patterns on a substrate. In order for the inkjet technology to produce reliable patterning tools, the jetting performance needs be controlled precisely. For controlling ink jetting performance, input waveform should be properly designed. In the past, the research was focused on designing dwell time of the input waveform for controlling jetting speed. However, the jetting performance is also closely related to rising and falling time. In this study, the effect of the rising and falling time on droplet speed will be investigated by measuring the droplet speed. In this study, the power OP amp (PA98A) was used in order to drive piezo inkjet head by amplifying the waveform generated from arbitrary function generator. The experimental results show that change of rising and falling time in the waveform not only affect the droplet speed but also optimal dwell time.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.1544-1545
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• 2007

본 논문은 피에조방식으로 구동하는 MEMS 구조의 산업용 잉크젯 헤드를 제작하여 잉크를 충진하여 토출하는 과정에서 토출이 되지 않는 원인 중 하나인 기포에 대해서 연구하였다. 기포를 직접 관찰하기 위한 방법으로 투명한 유리로 Membrane을 제작하여 기포가 발생하여 거동하는 모습을 관찰하였으며 Actuator가 구동하는 헤드내 기포를 구동 중에 관찰하기 위한 방법으로 LDV(Laser Doffler Vibrometer)를 이용하였다. 그 결과, 구동하면서 발생하는 변위의 미세한 차이를 관찰할 수 있었으며 주파수 data의 차이를 관찰함으로써 기포의 크기에 따른 토출의 양태를 구별할 수 있었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.366-372
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• 2007

Self-sensing measurement of piezo inkjet and its application are discussed. The pressure wave inside the inkjet dispenser was measured by current measurement due to self-sensing capability of PZT. The pressure wave measured from current was verified by commercially available laser vibrometer. Here, two applications using self-sensing signal were discussed: waveform design for high speed jetting and condition monitoring. For waveform design, two pulse waveform was designed based on self-sensing signal such that the pressure wave after droplet formation can be minimized. For condition monitoring, self-sensing signal was shown to be effective in detecting air bubble trapped in inkjet printhead.