Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-24
2002-12-10
Vo, Anh T. N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
active
06491383
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a head chip which is mounted on an ink-jet type recording apparatus applicable to, for example, a printer and a facsimile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an ink-jet type recording apparatus is known in the technical field, in which a recording head for jetting ink droplets from a plurality of nozzles is employed to record characters and/or images on a recording medium. In such an ink-jet type recording apparatus, the recording head positioned opposite to the recording medium is provided on a head holder, and this head holder is mounted on a carriage so as to be scanned along a direction perpendicular to a transport direction of the recording medium.
In
FIG. 12
, there is shown an exploded/perspective view of one example of such a recording head.
FIGS. 13A and 13B
are sectional view of a major portion of this recording head.
FIG. 13A
is a sectional view of the recording head taken along the longitudinal direction of side walls.
FIG. 13B
is a sectional view of the recording head taken along the thickness direction of side walls. A plurality of grooves
102
are arranged in a piezoelectric ceramic plate
101
in a parallel manner. The respective grooves
102
are separated from each other by side walls
103
. One end portion of each of the grooves
102
in the longitudinal direction is elongated up to one end surface of the piezoelectric ceramic plate
101
, whereas the other end portion is not elongated up to the other end surface of this piezoelectric ceramic plate, and a depth thereof gradually becomes shallow. Also, an electrode
105
used to apply a driving electric field is formed on surfaces of both the side walls
103
on the opening side within each of the grooves
102
along the longitudinal direction.
A cover plate
107
is jointed via an adhesive agent
109
to the grooves
102
of the piezoelectric ceramic plate
101
on the opening side. This cover plate
107
has an ink chamber
111
that constitutes a concave portion which is communicated to the shallow other end portion of each of the grooves
102
and an ink supply port
112
that is penetrated through a bottom portion of this ink chamber
111
along a direction opposite to the direction of the grooves
102
.
A nozzle plate
115
is jointed on an end surface of a joint member made by the piezoelectric ceramic plate
101
and the cover plate
107
, at which the grooves
102
are opened. Nozzle openings
117
are formed in the nozzle plate
115
at such positions located opposite to the respective grooves
102
.
It should be noted that a wiring board
120
is fixed on such a surface of the piezoelectric ceramic plate
101
, which is located opposite to the nozzle plate
115
and also opposite to the cover plate
107
. A wiring line
122
which is electrically connected to each of the electrodes
105
by employing a bonding wire
121
or the like is formed on the wiring board
120
. A driver voltage may be applied via this wiring line
122
to the electrode
105
.
In the recording head constituted in this manner, when ink is filled from the ink supply port
112
into the respective grooves
102
and a predetermined driving electric field is applied via the electrode
105
to the side walls
103
on both sides of a predetermined groove
102
, the side walls
103
are deformed, so that a capacity formed within this predetermined groove
102
is change. As a result, the ink filled inside the grooves
102
may be jetted from the nozzle opening
117
.
For example, as shown in
FIG. 14
, in the case where ink is jetted from a nozzle opening
117
corresponding to a groove
102
a
, a positive driving voltage is applied to both electrodes
105
a
and
105
b
provided in the groove
102
a
, and also electrodes
105
c
and
105
d
located opposite to these electrodes
105
a
and
105
b
are grounded. As a consequence, a driving electric field directed to the groove
102
a
is effected to the side walls
103
a
and
103
b.
When this driving electric field is positioned perpendicular to the polarization direction of the piezoelectric ceramic plate
101
, both the side walls
103
a
and
103
b
are deformed along the direction of the groove
102
a
due to the piezoelectric thickness slip effect, so that the capacity defined inside the groove
102
a
is reduced to there by increase pressure. Thus, the ink may be jetted from the nozzle opening
117
.
However, since such a head chip employs a large amount of high-cost ceramic, there is a problem in that the manufacturing cost of the head chip is high.
To solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. Hei 6-6375 has proposed such a head chip which is manufactured by the plate shaped board made of glass, piezoelectric ceramic plate made by arranging the pressure chambers in the array form on this plate-shaped board, and ink chamber plate made of glass.
In accordance with this head chip, since both the plate-shaped board and the ink chamber plate are made of low-cost glass materials, this head chip can be manufactured in low cost and also the manufacturing time can be shortened.
However, the above-explained head chip with employment of the glass board owns such a problem in that since the electrode for applying the voltage to the piezoelectric ceramic plate has to be formed by way of the oblique vapor deposition, the manufacturing cost is increased.
Also, when the wiring lines electrically conducted to this electrode are extracted, these wiring lines are processed by metal plating such as nickel plating or gold plating, and thereafter the metal plated-wiring lines has to be cut one by one by using a laser. Thus, there is another problem in that the process step becomes cumbersome, and the manufacturing cost is increased.
Furthermore, even when the wiring lines are directly formed on the glass board by way of the metal plating, there is another problem in that the fitting characteristic is deteriorated, and thus, the formed wiring lines may readily peel off from the glass board.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and therefore, has an object to provide a method of manufacturing a head chip, while manufacturing cost is reduced, and also a manufacturing step is simplified.
In order to solve the above problems, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a head chip in which: partition walls made of piezoelectric ceramic are arranged on two upper and lower sheets of a first board and a second board with predetermined intervals; chambers are defined between the respective partition walls; a driver voltage is applied to electrodes provided on side surfaces of the partition walls to change the capacity in the chambers; and the ink filled in the chambers is jetted from nozzle openings, characterized in that:
the first board and the second board are formed of a dielectric material, and also wiring lines, which are electrically conducted to the electrodes and elongated to the outside of the end portions of the partition walls in the longitudinal direction, are provided on the surface of either one of the first board and the second board; and
Further, the wiring lines include an inorganic conductive film as the lowermost layer and metal films formed thereon.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a head chip characterized in that the dielectric material is glass.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a head chip characterized in that the inorganic conductive film is made of at least one sort of material selected from the group consisting of ITO, SnO
2
, ZnO, and ATO.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspects of the present invention, there is provided a head chip characterized in that the inorganic conductive film is elongated between one of the first b
Adams & Wilks
Seiko Instruments Inc.
Vo Anh T. N.
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