Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-07
2003-10-28
Nguyen, Judy (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
active
06637870
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging ink supplied from an ink supply part. For example, it relates to an ink jet head suitable for use in a print head of an ink jet printer, a manufacturing method therefor and a printer including the ink jet head.
BACKGROUND ART
An ink jet printer is of a type injecting ink droplets through the use of an ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles to discharge the ink droplets toward a recording medium such as printing paper for directly adhering them thereonto. For example, the printing to the printing paper is made in a manner that, in a state where the ink jet head is reciprocated in cross directions of the printing paper, the printing paper is conveyed in a direction perpendicular to the moving directions of the ink jet head.
FIG. 34
is an exploded perspective view showing an essential construction of a conventional ink jet head. As
FIG. 34
shows, the conventional ink jet head is equipped with a head plate
310
having a plurality of (ten in
FIG. 34
) of ink discharging sections
312
made therein and is made to be connected to an ink tank
320
.
The ink tank
320
holds ink internally and supplies the ink through an ink supply port
322
to the head plate
310
.
Each of the ink discharging sections
312
made in the head plate
310
is equipped with a nozzle for discharging ink, and is provided with an ink pressure chamber to be filled up with ink for each nozzle and an ink pressurizer for pressurizing the ink within the pressure chamber, with ink droplets being discharged from each of the nozzle when each of the ink pressurizers pressurizes the ink pressure chamber.
Incidentally, for example, as this ink pressurizer, a bimorph laminated member is known which is composed of a piezoelectric element such as piezo and a diaphragm.
In addition, a common ink passage, not shown, is formed in the interior of the head plate
310
, and the ink discharging sections
312
communicate through ink supply passages (not shown) with this common ink passage in a branched configuration.
Still additionally, an ink supply port
313
is made in the head plate
310
and communicates with the common ink passage.
Yet additionally, the head plate
310
and the ink tank
320
are coupled to each other in a manner that an adhering portion
311
of the head plate
310
and an adhering portion
321
of the ink tank
320
are adhered to each other through an adhesive or the like, and at this time, an ink outlet
322
of the ink tank
320
and the ink supply port
313
of the head plate
310
communicate with each other.
With this construction, the ink held in the ink tank
320
is supplied through the ink outlet
322
and the ink supply port
313
to the common ink passage and further delivered from the common ink passage through each of the ink communicating passages to the pressure chamber of each of the ink discharging sections
312
.
In each of the ink discharging sections
312
, the ink is injected from the nozzle with the pressure chamber being pressurized by the ink pressurizer, thus accomplishing the printing to printing paper.
However, in such a conventional ink jet head, an adhesive or the like is applied to the adhering portion
311
of the head plate
310
and the adhering portion
321
of the ink tank
320
and they are joined to each other for the adhesion between the head plate
310
and the ink tank
320
, and hence, there is a possibility that, at this adhesion, the adhesive is forced out from adhering portions
311
and
321
to interfere with the electrodes of the ink discharging section
312
to affect the operations thereof adversely.
Therefore, in manufacturing the ink jet head, there is a need to secure a sufficient distance (adhesion allowance) between the adhering portion
311
and the ink discharging section
312
on the head plate
310
, which hinders the enhancement of integration of the head plate
310
, thereby making it difficult to achieve the size reduction of the head plate
310
, that is, the ink jet head (in its turn, the ink jet printer)
Moreover, the head plate
310
generally has a low rigidity, in particular, in a case in which the head plate
310
is composed of a laminated substrate using a thin-film piezo as a piezoelectric element, its thickness is as low as approximately 0.2 mm, and for this reason, a problem arises in that the head plate
310
is breakable, particularly, in the process of the adhesion of the ink tank
320
to the head plate
310
or other processes, so the handling thereof requires the great care.
The present invention has been developed in consideration of these problems, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the degree of integration of the head main body through the use of a worked-out construction for achieving the size reduction of an ink jet head and the size reduction of a printer as well, and further to secure a sufficient rigidity of the head main body.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
For this purpose, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided an ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging ink supplied from an ink supply part, characterized by comprising a head main body including a plurality of pressure chambers each provided for each of the nozzles and filled up with ink, a plurality of pressurizers each provided for each of the pressure chambers for pressurizing the pressure chamber to discharge the ink in the pressure chamber through the nozzle and ink supply passages for supplying the ink from the ink supply part to the plurality of pressure chambers, and a joint section formed on the head main body to protrude therefrom for joining the ink supply part to the head main body, with the head main body being formed on a substrate and the substrate is partially removed from the head main body to form, in the substrate, a communicating passage for making a communication between the ink supply passage and an ink supply port of the ink supply part, and the joint section being formed as a residual portion of the substrate on the head main body.
Furthermore, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging ink supplied from an ink supply part, characterized by comprising a step of forming, on a substrate, a head main body including a plurality of pressure chambers each provided for each of the nozzles and filled up with ink, a plurality of pressurizers each provided for each of the pressure chambers for pressurizing the pressure chamber to discharge the ink in the pressure chamber from the nozzle and ink supply passages for supplying the ink from an ink supply part to the plurality of pressure chambers, and a step of removing the substrate partially from the head main body to form, in the substrate, a communicating passage for making a communication between the ink supply passage and an ink supply port of the ink supply part and of forming the residual portion of the substrate on the head main body as a joint portion for joining the ink supply part to the ink main body.
Still furthermore, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a printer equipped with an ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging ink supplied from an ink supply part, characterized by comprising a head main body including a plurality of pressure chambers each provided for each of the nozzles and filled up with ink, a plurality of pressurizers each provided for each of the pressure chambers for pressurizing the pressure chamber to discharge the ink in the pressure chamber from the nozzle and an ink supply passage for supplying the ink from the ink supply part to the plurality of pressure chambers, and a joint section formed on the head main body to protrude therefrom for joining the ink supply part to the head main body, with the head main body being formed on a substrate and the substrate is partially removed from the head main body to form, in the substrate, a communicating
Koike Shuji
Sakamoto Yoshiaki
Shingai Tomohisa
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP
Fujitsu Limited
Nguyen Judy
LandOfFree
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