Printing – Processes – Position or alignment
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-10
2004-06-29
Eickholt, Eugene H. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Processes
Position or alignment
C422S105000, C436S180000, C435S287100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06755131
ABSTRACT:
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This Application claims the benefit of French Patent Application No. 01 403 393.0, filed on Dec. 31, 2001, in the names of Thierry L. A. Dannoux, Jean-Pierre Lereboullet, Ramain Ramel and Xavier Tellier, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention is related generally to high density array (“HDA”) inking and printing and, more particularly, to a flexible HDA print head with systems for HDA pin plate alignment with respect to a reservoir for performing inking operations and systems for substrate alignment with respect to an HDA pin plate for performing printing operations.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
HDAs of DNA or Oligonucleotides have many applications in the biological fields such as genetic research or diagnostic purposes. Conventional HDAs may have well over hundreds or thousands of different compounds (e.g., DNA, oligonucleotides, proteins, etc.) typically deposited on the surface of a substrate (e.g., a glass slide) in an array configuration.
Performing HDA inking and printing operations require a conventional HDA print head and its components to perform many repeatable motions, typically in the range of several million with a traveling distance in the range of 2 to 5 mm. A desirable range of accuracy and repeatability for conventional HDA print heads and their components should be within the range of +/−2 &mgr;m. In addition, the movements of the conventional HDA print head and its components should ideally be smooth. Utilizing precision ball raceways in a conventional HDA print head to attempt achieving such accuracy and repeatability is not a viable solution due to the prospective effects of local wear and brinelling.
Some conventional HDA print heads, such as a compound double bridge print head mechanism, have attempted to address the above-noted issues. However, these conventional HDA print heads are heavy and often involve a complex and costly manufacturing process. Moreover, their heavy weight may make them difficult to use. Referring to
FIG. 1
, a conventional HDA print head mechanism
10
having a conventional flexure
12
is shown. One of the disadvantages of the conventional HDA print head mechanism
10
includes having a large orthogonal displacement &Dgr;, where &Dgr;=1(1-cos &agr;) and h=1 (sin &agr;). Having a large orthogonal displacement &Dgr; increases the likelihood that a conventional HDA pin plate (not illustrated) situated within the conventional HDA print head mechanism
10
will become misaligned with respect to a conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
or a printing substrate (not illustrated) while inking and printing operations are performed. Such misalignments may damage the HDA print head mechanism
10
, conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
or the printing substrate.
Referring to
FIG. 2
, a conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
and conventional HDA pin plate
16
are illustrated. Conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
includes conventional capillaries
18
having openings thereto on the conventional HDA reservoir top surface
15
facing conventional HDA pin plate
16
. Conventional HDA pin plate
14
includes conventional pins
20
arranged in a pattern, which enter conventional capillaries
18
to pick up liquid materials
22
to subsequently transfer to a printing substrate (not illustrated).
Referring to
FIGS. 3-5
, an inking and a printing operation using conventional HDA pin plate
16
for transferring liquid materials
22
from conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
to a slide
24
will be described. The inking and printing operations ought to be performed within a short period of time of each other. Referring to
FIG. 3
, an inking operation includes using conventional HDA pin plate
16
to pick up liquid materials
22
from conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
. Each of the conventional pins
20
must be positioned initially over a center of an opening of each conventional capillary
14
. Achieving precise transfers of liquid materials
22
from conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
to each conventional pin
20
requires moving and/or positioning conventional HDA pin plate
16
to achieve and maintain a parallel orientation with respect to conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
throughout the inking operation.
It is important that conventional HDA pin plate
16
achieves and maintains a parallel alignment with respect to conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
because the internal linings or walls of the conventional capillaries
18
are typically thin, varying in thickness from 25 to 30 &mgr;m. A misalignment during an inking operation could cause conventional pins
20
to come into contact with the internal linings or walls of the conventional capillaries
18
and damage the conventional pins
20
and/or conventional capillaries
18
, potentially costing thousands of dollars to replace. Conventional HDA pin plate
16
is lowered towards conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
until each conventional pin
20
enters its corresponding conventional capillary
18
and contacts liquid materials
22
held therein. Once each conventional pin
20
makes contact with liquid materials
22
, conventional HDA pin plate
16
is retracted upwards and away from conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
, and a reproducible portion of liquid material
22
is collected by each conventional pin
20
.
Referring to
FIG. 4
, a printing operation includes using conventional HDA pin plate
16
to transfer liquid materials
22
to slide
24
. Conventional HDA pin plate
16
is lowered until each conventional pin
20
is close enough for the liquid materials
22
to make contact with slide
24
. Conventional HDA pin plate
16
must achieve and maintain a parallel alignment with respect to slide
24
throughout the printing operation to avoid damage, since the conventional pins
20
must not make direct contact with slide
24
. Slides
24
are manufactured out of a glass material approximately 1 mm thick. A misalignment could cause some of the conventional pins
20
to come into contact with slide
24
before other conventional pins
20
are close enough to deposit liquid materials
22
, resulting in damaging conventional pins
20
. Further, remnants of damaged conventional pins
20
could contaminate the liquid materials
22
and damage the internal linings or walls of the conventional capillaries
18
during subsequent inking operations. Again, the damage could result in costing thousands of dollars since the liquid materials
22
are often expensive. Once all the liquid materials
22
are transferred to slide
24
, conventional HDA pin plate
16
is retracted upwards away from slide
24
.
Previously, a manual, five-axis and one radial micromanipulation has been needed to align conventional HDA pin plates
16
with respect to conventional HDA reservoir structures
14
to perform accurate and precise inking and printing operations and to avoid the types of damage mentioned above. To perform such a micromanipulation, conventional HDA pin plate
16
and conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
are situated within a conventional print head such as the conventional HDA print head mechanism
10
mentioned above with respect to FIG.
1
. Such a conventional print head secures the conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
, and eventually the slide
24
, to allow the conventional HDA pin plate
16
to be moved and/or positioned during the micromanipulation before performing inking and printing operations.
Referring to
FIG. 5
, micromanipulation for alignment purposes involves moving and/or positioning conventional HDA pin plate
16
along the X and Y axis and the &thgr; radius to achieve planar superposition with respect to the conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
. The conventional HDA pin plate
16
is moved and/or positioned in the direction of the &agr; and &bgr; axis to achieve spatial orientation with respect to conventional HDA reservoir structure
14
. To determine whether conventional HDA pin plate
16
is orient
Dannoux Thierry L. A.
Lereboullet Jean-Pierre
Ramel Romain
Tellier Xavier
Beall Thomas R.
Corning Incorporated
Eickholt Eugene H.
Tucker William J.
LandOfFree
Flexible high density array print head with systems and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Flexible high density array print head with systems and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Flexible high density array print head with systems and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3366118