Thermal ink jet dynamics: modeling, simulation, and testing

In this paper, we present a cinematographic measuring technique for visuali zation and characterization of dynamics in micro electro mechanical systems for the example of a thermal ink jet printhead. Furthermore, we derive a m odel for identification and simulation of dynamic phenomena in the thermal pneumatic microactuator of a thermal ink jet. Using this model we calculate the pressure propagation in the bubble by identifying the mathematical mod el with position measurements extracted from cinematographic image sequence s which have been taken with our visualization equipment. The identificatio n of the model was performed with minimizing the sum of quadratic deviation s between simulated and measured values. Parameter studies with the identif ied model predict the behavior of the microactuator at outer pressures high er than 1 bar. (C) 1999 ACRS. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.