In recent years, physics-based computer models have been increasingly applied to design the drop-on-demand (DOD) inkjet devices. The initial design stage for these devices often requires a fast turnaround time of computer models, because it usually involves a massive screening of a large number of design parameters. Thus, in the present study, a 1D model is developed to achieve the fast prediction of droplet ejection process from DOD devices, including the droplet breakup and coalescence. A popular 1D slender-jet method (Egger, 1994) is adopted in this study. The fluid dynamics in the nozzle region is described by a 2D axisymmetric unsteady Poiseuille flow model. Droplet formation and nozzle fluid dynamics are coupled, and hence solved together, to simulate the inkjet droplet ejection. The arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method is employed to solve the governing equations. Numerical methods have been proposed to handle the breakup and coalescence of droplets. The proposed methods are implemented in an in-house developed MATLAB code. A series of validation examples have been carried out to evaluate the accuracy and the robustness of the proposed 1D model. Finally, a case study of the inkjet droplet ejection with different Ohnesorge number (Oh) is presented to demonstrate the capability of the proposed 1D model for DOD inkjet process. Our study has shown that 1D model can significantly reduce the computational time (usually less than one minute) yet with acceptable accuracy, which makes it very useful to explore the large parameter space of inkjet devices in a short amount of time.
In this study, we present a 1D method to predict the droplet ejection of a drop-on-demand (DoD) inkjet which includes the drop breakup, coalescence, and the meniscus movement at nozzle orifice. A simplified 1D slender-jet analysis based on the lubrication approximation is used to study the drop breakup. In this model, the free-surface (liquid-air interface) is represented by a shape function so that the full Navier-Stokes (NS) equations can be linearized into a set of simple partial differential equations (PDEs) which are solved by method of lines (MOL). The shape-preserving piecewise cubic interpolation and third-order polynomial curve are employed to merge approaching droplets smoothly. The printhead is simplified into a circular tube, and a 2D axisymmetric unsteady Poiseuille flow model is adopted to acquire the relationship between the time-dependent driving pressure and velocity profile of the meniscus. Drop breakup and meniscus movement are coupled together by a threshold of meniscus extension to complete a full simulation of droplet ejection. These algorithms and simulations are carried out using MATLAB code. The result is compared with a high fidelity 2D simulation which was previously developed [10], and good agreement is found. This demonstrates that the proposed method enables rapid parametric analysis of DoD inkjet droplet ejection as a function of nozzle dimensions, driving pressure and fluid properties.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.