Printhead with flex PCB bent between contacts and printhead IC

US7942500B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd · AU

Inventors

• Brian Robert Brown · Chatswood, AU
• Norman Micheal Berry · Sydney, AU
• Garry Raymond Jackson · Sydney, AU
• Paul Timothy Sharp · Sydney, AU
• John Douglas Peter Morgan · Sydney, AU
• Kia Silverbrook · Sydney, AU
• Akira Nakazawa · Yokohama, JP
• Michael John Hudson · Sydney, AU
• Christopher Hibbard · Sydney, AU
• Samuel George Mallinson · Sydney, AU
• Paul Justin Reichl · Sydney, AU

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 19, 2010
• Grant date: May 17, 2011
• Expiry date: Jan 19, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B41J2202/20
• WIPO field: Textile and paper machines
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A printhead is provided for an inkjet printer that has a print engine controller for receiving print data and sending it to the printhead. The printhead has a printhead IC for ejecting ink and a support structure for mounting the printhead IC in the printer adjacent a paper path. The printhead IC is mounted on a face of the support structure that, in use, faces the paper path. A flexible printed circuit board (flex PCB) that has contacts for receiving print data mounted to the support structure on a face that does not face the paper path. The bent section reduces the likelihood of trace cracking by holding the flex PCB at a set radius rather than allowing the flex to follow an irregular curve and thereby risking localized points of high stress on the traces.