Printhead including coanda catcher with grooved radius

摘要

A printhead includes a jetting module, deflection mechanism, and catcher. The jetting module includes a nozzle array extending along a length of the jetting module and forms drops travelling along a first path from liquid jets emitted from the nozzles. The deflection mechanism causes selected drops to deviate from the first path to a second path. The catcher intercepts drops travelling along one of the paths, includes a drop contact surface and a liquid removal conduit connected in fluid communication by a Coanda surface including a radial surface having an array of grooves. The array of grooves extends in the same direction as that of the nozzle array. For a given groove, the groove includes a depth that varies along the radial surface as viewed relative to the drop contact surface and a liquid removal conduit surface adjacent to the Coanda surface.