Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-05
2003-04-29
Vo, Anh T. N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
active
06554394
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head unit provided with a liquid ejecting head capable of effecting printing on a print medium by ejecting droplets through ejection outlets, a carriage for carrying the liquid ejecting head unit, and a printing apparatus equipped with them. The present invention also relates to a positioning method of the liquid ejecting head unit, and an inserting method therefor.
In a conventional printing apparatus, the use is made with a liquid ejecting head unit which includes a liquid ejecting head for effecting print on a print medium by ejecting the ink through the ejection outlets, and an ink container accommodating the ink to be supplied to the liquid ejection printing head, which may be integral or separate. The liquid ejection printing apparatus is provided with a carriage reciprocable in a substantially perpendicular to the feeding direction of the print medium, and the liquid ejecting head unit is barred on such a carriage.
As the liquid ejecting head, known ones include a liquid ejecting head which ejects fine droplets using thermal energy generated by electrothermal transducers or the like, and a liquid ejecting head which ejects the droplets deflected by a pair of electrodes. Among them, an ink jet printing head which ejects the ink droplets using the thermal energy has advantages in that liquid ejection portions (ejection outlets) for forming the printing droplet can be arranged at high density, and therefore, high resolution print is possible and in that total size of the printer can be reduced, and such an ink jet printing head has been put into practice.
The ink jet printing head is provided with a plurality of ejection outlet, a plurality of liquid flow paths in fluid communication with the respective ejection outlet, and a plurality of energy conversion elements such as electrothermal transducer elements disposed in the respective liquid flow paths, wherein ejection energy (the thermal energy effective to create film boiling in the liquid, for example) is applied to the liquid by the energy conversion element, by which the liquid droplet is ejected to effect printing. Referring to
FIG. 73
, the description will be made as to a general structure of the ink jet printing head.
As shown in
FIG. 73
, the ink jet printing head comprises an element substrate
1001
provided with a heat generating element
1001
a
(energy producing member) for ejecting the ink, a top plate
1002
connected to the element substrate
1001
, and an orifice plate
1010
connected to the element substrate
1001
handed to the front end surface of the top plate
1002
.
The element substrate
1001
is fixed to the supporting member
1004
of aluminum or the like by die bonding. To the supporting member
1004
, an element substrate
1001
and a printed wiring substrate
1003
for effecting electric contact with the main assembly of the printing apparatus are bonded, and the printed wiring substrate
1003
and the element substrate
1001
are electrically connected by wire bonding. Although not shown in the Figure, the printed wiring substrate
1003
is equipped with a contact pad for contact with the main assembly of the printing apparatus. On the element substrate
1001
, there are provided a shift register and a wiring pattern in addition to the heat generating element
1001
a
s. The shift register and the wiring pattern may be built in the element substrate
1001
together with the heat generating elements
1001
a
through silicon formation technique.
The top plate
1002
is made of a resin material integrally having recesses which constitute the ink flow paths
1002
a
and a recess which constitutes the ink liquid chamber
1002
b
through an injection molding or the like, or made of silicon material through an anisotropic etching process or the like. The top plate
1002
is fixed to the element substrate
1001
by urging means (unshown) such as a spring or by connecting means (unshown) such as adhesive material or the like, thereby providing a plurality of ink flow paths
1002
a
corresponding to the respective heat generating elements
1001
a
and providing the ink liquid chamber
1002
b
for supplying the liquid to the liquid flow path
7
s.
The orifice plate
1010
has group of fine ink ejection outlets
1010
a
for ejecting the ink, and the outlets are formed through a laser machining, electro-forming, press work injection molding or another ultra-fine processing. The group of ejection outlets
1010
a
is one of important factors influential to the ejection performance of the liquid ejection printing head. The orifice plate
1010
may be formed integrally with the top plate
1002
in one case, and is formed by connecting a separate top plate
1002
thereto. In the latter case, the ejection outlets
1010
a
of the orifice plate
1010
are aligned with and connected to the ink flow paths
1002
a
provided by the press-contact between the element substrate
1001
and the top plate
1002
, and this is advantageous in that material of the orifice plate
1010
which requires durability can be relatively freely selected. On the other hand, in the former case, the ejection outlets
1010
a
and the ink flow paths
1002
a
can be formed with the fluid communication accomplished therebetween, and therefore, the ink flow paths
1002
a
can be provided by simple mechanical press-contact between the top plate
1002
and the element substrate
1001
so that productivity is good.
The ink jet printing apparatus using the ink jet printing head described above is usable with a word processor, a color printer connected with a personal computer, a facsimile machine, a copying machine or the like.
FIG. 74
is a perspective view of a conventional liquid ejecting head unit (ink jet print cartridge). As shown in the Figure, the main assembly
1130
of the ink jet print cartridge comprises an ink jet printing head H at a predetermined position, and a first common liquid chamber
1120
is disposed adjacent the ink jet printing head H. The first common liquid chamber
1120
and the ink jet printing head H are supported by supporting member
1121
,
1122
s. In the main assembly
1130
of the ink jet print cartridge covered with a cap member
1131
, there is provided a container (unshown) containing printing liquid such as ink, and the printing liquid is properly supplied from the container to the first common liquid chamber
1120
.
The ink jet printing head H may be an integral type in which one printing head is provided with ink ejection portions for respective colors, for example, black, yellow, magenta and cyan. With such a type, the number of ejection outlets per color is small, but the head is less expensive. However, the integral type head is not advantageous for the high speed printing.
In another type, which may be costly, a plurality of ink jet print cartridges are juxtaposed, and the printing heads for the respective colors are independently provided, in which the number of ejection outlets can be made larger. In another type, the independent plurality of ink ejection portions are mounted on a single base. With this type, the printing heads are disposed on the base with high precision on the basis of predicted positional deviations among ink droplets injected from the ejection outlets in the orifice plate for the respective colors. Additionally, since the printing heads are integrally mounted on the base, the misregistration of the colors is small, and the exchange of the head is easy.
FIG. 75
is a perspective view of an ink jet recording head assembly disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Hei 9-289971.
The conventional ink jet recording head assembly
1306
shown in the Figure comprises a base
1301
having a plurality of ink ejection portion with ink ejection outlet, and a printed board
1302
having a ROM1304 storing positional data set for the respective ink ejection portions on the basis of actually measured positional deviations among the ink droplets ejected from the ink ejection outlets of the ink
Asano Shinya
Yamaguchi Yukuo
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