Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-21
2004-11-30
Gordon, Raquel Yvette (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C347S020000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06824248
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head that obtains recorded images by discharging ink to the recording surface of a recording medium.
2. Related Background Art
There has been practically provided an ink jet recording apparatus that forms images by the adhesion of the ink on the recording surface of a recording medium, which is discharged selectively thereto from plural ink discharge ports in accordance with recording data. For the ink jet recording apparatus of the kind, the ink jet recording head, which is selectively mounted on a carriage, is provided and arranged to face the recording surface of the recording medium and scan in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the recording medium.
As shown in
FIG. 8
, an ink jet recording head
16
of the so-called side shooter type comprises, for example, the main body portion
18
formed by an ink supply portion
18
B having an ink tank IT installed thereon, and an input terminal portion
18
A electrically connected with a carriage portion (not shown) to receive a driving control signal group form the carriage portion; a supporting member
20
connected with the joining face
18
b
of a recess
18
BG of the ink supply portion
18
B of the main body portion
18
; a recording element base plate
24
bonded to the upper face that serves as a second bonding face of the supporting member
20
; and a printed circuit board
22
electrically connected with the recording element base plate
24
to supply the driving control signal group from the input terminal portion
18
A.
The input terminal portion
18
A and ink supply portion
18
B of the main body portion
18
are formed integrally by resin, for example. On the upper face of the ink supply portion
18
B of the main body portion
18
opposite to the portion where the ink tank IT is installed, an almost rectangular recess
18
BG is arranged as shown in FIG.
8
and
FIGS. 9A and 9B
. The bottom face of the recess
18
BG is made to be the joining face
18
b
where the supporting member
20
is bonded. A part of the joining face
18
b
is formed by the surface of a block piece
26
of aluminum alloy, for example. The block piece
26
is arranged in a metallic die and surrounded by resin when the main body portion
18
is formed. Almost on the central portion of the joining face
18
b
, there opens the thin and long end portion of the ink supply path
18
a
that induces ink from the ink tank IT.
As shown in FIG.
10
and
FIG. 11
, the recording element base plate
24
comprises the base plate
10
having an ink supply port
10
c
communicated with the opening end portion of the ink supply path in the ink supply portion; partition wall members
12
that form plural ink branch supply paths
12
a
arranged corresponding to heaters
10
a
serving as the ink heating portion on the base plate
10
; and an orifice plate
14
having plural ink discharge ports
14
a
arranged in two line formation corresponding to each of the heaters
10
a
on the base plate
10
.
For the recording element base plate
24
, a silicon thin film is formed in a thickness of 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm, for example. Also, as shown in
FIG. 9A
, the surface of the recess
18
BG of the ink supply portion
18
B of the base plate, which is bonded to the joining face
18
b
by the application of a bonding agent, is provided with the ink supply opening portion
24
c
facing the orifice plate, which is extended in the arrangement direction of the ink discharge ports
24
a
. Further, on both sides of the base plate having the ink supply opening portion
24
c
between them, heaters (not shown) are arranged with designated gaps between them, respectively. The ink supply opening portion
24
c
is communicated with one end portion of the ink branch supply paths provided for the partition wall members. Each of the ink branch supply paths induces to each heater the ink that is supplied through the ink supply opening portion
24
c.
As shown in FIG.
8
and in
FIGS. 9A and 9B
, the printed circuit board
22
is electrically connected with each of the electrodes of the base plate for the recording element base plate
24
. The printed circuit board
22
is provided with the containing portion
24
B of the recording element base plate where the recording element base plate
24
is arranged, and a terminal portion
24
A, which is arranged for the input terminal portion
18
A of the main body portion
18
. For the bonding of the printed circuit board
22
and the recording element base plate
24
, the TAB (tape automated bonding) method is adopted, for example.
The supporting member
20
, which is arranged between the recording element base plate
24
and the joining face
18
b
of the recess
18
BG of the ink supply portion
18
B, is formed to be flat and rectangular as shown in FIG.
8
and
FIGS. 9A and 9B
. Here, the same silicon material used for the recording element base plate
24
forms the supporting member
20
, for example.
As shown in
FIG. 9A
, the supporting member
20
is provided with a second joining face
20
Sa bonded to the surface arranged for the ink supply opening portion
24
c
of the recording element base plate
24
, and a first joining face
20
Sb bonded to the joining face
18
b
of the recess
18
BG of the ink supply portion
18
B. Also, the supporting member
20
is provided with a communication path
20
a
, which is extended to be thin and long in the longitudinal direction, in a position facing the ink supply path
18
a
arranged for the ink supply opening portion
24
c
of the recording element base plate
24
and the joining face
18
b
of the recess
18
BG of the ink supply portion
18
B. Further, the length of the shorter side and longer side of the supporting member
20
are the same as that of the shorter side and longer side of the recording element base plate
24
, respectively, and the thickness of the supporting member
20
is substantially the same as that of the recording element base plate
24
.
When arranging the recording element base plate
24
having the printed circuit board
22
connected therewith for the ink supply portion
18
B, the first joint face
20
Sb of the supporting member
20
is bonded, at first, to the designated position on the joining face
18
b
by use of bonding agent. Then, in continuation, as shown in
FIG. 9B
, the second joining face
20
Sa of the supporting member
20
is bonded to the surface having the ink supply opening portion
24
c
arranged for the recording element base plate
24
by use of a bonding agent. Here, it is desirable to use a bonding agent having low viscosity and thin bonding layer to be formed on the contact face, and comparatively high hardness once cured.
With the structure thus arranged, when each of the heaters is heated on the base plate of the recording element base plate
24
with the supply of a heater driving control signal through the printed circuit board
22
, ink is induced by way of the ink supply path
18
a
through the ink branch supply paths of the partition member. Then, ink is heated by each of the heaters to generate a bubble by means of a film boiling phenomenon, and along with the expansion of the bubble, ink is discharged from each of the ink discharge ports
24
a
toward the recording surface. However, there are the following problems encountered by the conventional example described above.
In other words, it is found that when the number of nozzles should increase and the length of the recording element base plate should be made larger still, the problems identified below occur sometimes irrespective of the case where the base plate is formed by the same silicon material used for the supporting member or formed by alumina or the like, the linear expansion coefficient of which is similar to that of silicon. Now, hereunder, the problems will be discussed more specifically in accordance with the properties of bonding agents used for bonding the supporting member and the recording element base plate.
(1) In a Case of a Thermal Curing Bonding Age
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