Thermal ink jet dynamics: modeling, simulation, and testing

In this paper, we present a cinematographic measuring technique for visualization and characterization of dynamics in micro electro mechanical systems for the example of a thermal ink jet printhead. Furthermore, we derive a model 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 model with position measurements extracted from cinematographic image sequences which have been taken with our visualization equipment. The identification of the model was performed with minimizing the sum of quadratic deviations between simulated and measured values. Parameter studies with the identified model predict the behavior of the microactuator at outer pressures higher than 1 bar.