Abstract
The ink drop generation process in piezoelectric droplet-on-demand devices is a complex multiphysics process. A fully resolved simulation of such a system involves a coupled fluid–structure interaction approach employing both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational structural mechanics (CSM) models; thus, it is computationally expensive for engineering design and analysis. In this work, a simplified lumped element model (LEM) is proposed for the simulation of piezoelectric inkjet printheads using the analogy of equivalent electrical circuits. The model’s parameters are computed from three-dimensional fluid and structural simulations, taking into account the detailed geometrical features of the inkjet printhead. Inherently, this multifidelity LEM approach is much faster in simulations of the whole inkjet printhead, while it ably captures fundamental electro-mechanical coupling effects. The approach is validated with experimental data for an existing commercial inkjet printhead with good agreement in droplet speed prediction and frequency responses. The sensitivity analysis of droplet generation conducted for the variation of ink channel geometrical parameters shows the importance of different design variables on the performance of inkjet printheads. It further illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach in practical engineering usage.
Highlights
The piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet print method consists of an ink channel which deforms due to piezoelectric actuation at the ink channel walls
The piezoelectric actuators used to deform the ink channel walls can be modelled as a coupled electro-mechanical system using the finite element method
A lumped element model (LEM) for an inkjet head was developed to simulate its droplet generation in inkjet printing
Summary
The piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet print method consists of an ink channel which deforms due to piezoelectric actuation at the ink channel walls. The piezoelectric actuators used to deform the ink channel walls can be modelled as a coupled electro-mechanical system using the finite element method. The equivalent circuit approach is further refined to include both domains to study the behaviour of inkjet printheads [9,10,11] Modelling both domains as an equivalent circuit greatly reduces the complexity of the problem. Simplification of physics and geometrical complexity is normally used to obtain lumped parameters [9,10] This could lead to large errors and over-simplification when using the LEM approach for prediction of system performance. The section includes some discussion on the optimal convergence and posterior error estimation of the optimum configuration
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