| 摘要 |
A system provides a maximum optimal thickness of a protective overcoat (40) covering a resistive heating element (34) to which an optimum energy pulse is provided. The optimum energy pulse provides an optimal energy density at a surface of the heating element to cause optimal nucleation of the ink adjacent the surface of the heating element. The system includes storing in memory (26) values related to heating element dimensions, heating element electrical characteristics, and ink characteristics. Also stored in memory are expressions that provide mathematical relationships between the heating element dimensional values, the heating element electrical values, the ink characteristics, and the maximum optimal thickness of the protective overcoat. The system also includes retrieving from memory the store values and expressions, and determining, based on the expressions, a thickness value representing the maximum optimal thickness of the protective overcoat. The energy density provided by the optimum energy pulse is large enough to cause the ink near the heating element to form a bubble and a droplet, but not so large that energy is wasted which cannot be transferred into the ink after the bubble is formed. |
