Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-06
2001-10-09
Fuller, Benjamin R. (Department: 2855)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C347S071000, C347S094000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299295
ABSTRACT:
THIS APPLICATION IS A U.S. NATIONAL PHASE APPLICATION OF PCT INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PCT/JP98/02884.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an ink jet printing head and a manufacturing method therefor and, more particularly, to an ink jet printing head capable of being suitably used for a printer which records and forms, for example, characters, figures, images, and the like on a recording medium and a manufacturing method therefor.
BACKGROUND ART
In recent years, personal computers have been widely used in a multimedia information society, and accordingly the demand for printers has been increased.
In particular, ink jet printers are low in price and capable of high-quality color print, so that their market has been growing rapidly.
The ink jet printers are available in various systems: a system in which a mechanical vibrating force is converted into pressure waves of ink by using a piezoelectric element and thereby ink droplets are discharged, a system in which bubbles are produced by suddenly heating ink and thereby ink droplets are discharged by the pressure waves of bubbles, a system in which ink is sucked and allowed to fly by an electrostatic force, and so on. Among these systems, the system using a piezoelectric element has received special attention because the manufacturing method of piezoelectric elements has advanced.
The following is a description of a conventional ink jet printing head using a piezoelectric element.
FIG. 12
shows a configuration of a conventional ink jet printing head using a piezoelectric element, which has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-40030.
FIG.
12
(
a
) is a sectional view, and FIG.
12
(
b
) is a top view. In these figures, reference numeral
101
denotes a nozzle plate,
102
denotes a flow path plate, and
103
denotes an orifice plate. These elements are joined with an adhesive to form an ink nozzle portion
110
.
Also, reference numeral
104
denotes a connection plate,
105
denotes a spacer plate, and
106
denotes a closure plate. These elements form an ink pump portion
111
by integrally firing materials fabricated in a green sheet state in three layers.
On top of the ink pump portion
111
, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive material
108
provided with electrodes
107
and
109
is formed by printing and firing.
In the ink jet printing head thus configured, ink is caused to flow through an ink supply path
113
, an ink supply flow path
114
and a pressure chamber
115
are filled with ink, and ink droplets are discharged through nozzles
116
by the vibration of piezoelectric/electrostrictive element
108
caused by a predetermined electrical signal.
For such a conventional configuration, however, in arranging the nozzles
116
with high density, there is a technical limitation in minute fabrication of the spacer plate
105
and minute formation of piezoelectric/electrostrictive element
108
and the electrodes
107
and
109
by printing etc. Thereupon, the conventional configuration has a problem in that it is very difficult to produce a multi-nozzle head having a nozzle arrangement of high resolution such as 8 nozzles/mm or 16 nozzles/mm.
Further, many flat-plate members with different patterns, that is, 9-layer members with different patterns including the electrodes must be fabricated, formed, and laminated, which presents a problem in that the manufacture is complicated.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and accordingly an object of the present invention is to provide a multi-nozzle ink jet printing head with high-density nozzle arrangement, and a manufacturing method by which the head can be manufactured at a low cost with high productivity.
The present invention provides an ink jet printing head comprising a plurality of ink liquid chambers connected to an ink supply source and arranged in a predetermined direction and a plurality of nozzles individually connected to the ink liquid chambers and arranged in the predetermined direction, characterized in that plate-shaped members lying between the ink liquid chambers and having a driving function capable of discharging ink in all or some ink liquid chambers are arranged by being laminated in the arrangement direction of the nozzles.
By this configuration, a multi-nozzle ink jet printing head with high-density nozzle arrangement can be realized.
Also, the present invention provides an ink jet printing head in which the plate-shaped members include:
a plate-shaped piezoelectric/electrostrictive member;
first and second electrode members disposed adjacently on the opposite sides of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive member; and
a plate-shaped regulating plate member disposed adjacently to the second electrode member on the side of the second electrode member,
the ink liquid chamber is formed by a hole portion of a plate-shaped pressure chamber member disposed adjacently to the first electrode member on the side of the first electrode member, and
extension or contraction deformation is allowed to occur on the piezoelectric/electrostrictive member by applying a voltage to the first and second electrode members, and the regulating plate member regulates the extension or contraction deformation of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive member, whereby the ink in the ink liquid chamber is pressurized and ink droplets are discharged through the nozzle corresponding to the ink liquid chamber.
By this configuration, the electrode pattern formed in the plate-shaped member may be a relatively simple one with a large size as compared with the nozzle arrangement density, so that the fabrication is simple and the manufacture is easy.
Also, by making the first electrode a common electrode, chemical change etc. of ink is not produced.
Also, the present invention provides a manufacturing method for an ink jet printing head comprising a laminating step of alternately laminating a base material for a pressure chamber member having a plurality of hole portions corresponding to ink liquid chambers connected to an ink supply source and a base material for a driving plate-shaped member capable of deforming all or some of the ink liquid chambers; and a cutting step of cutting the base material for the pressure chamber member and the base material for the plate-shaped member, which are laminated in the laminating step, along the laminating direction so as to correspond to the hole portions while keeping the laminated state.
Thus, if cutting and separating are performed after laminating, a large number of ink jet printing heads can be manufactured at a time, so that an ink jet printing head with very high productivity can be provided.
Also, the present invention provides a manufacturing method for an ink jet printing head further comprising a joining step for joining a base material for a nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzles capable of being connected to the ink liquid chambers so that the nozzles correspond to the ink liquid chambers after the laminating step and before the cutting step.
By this configuration, the nozzles can be positioned accurately and easily.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4700203 (1987-10-01), Yamamure et al.
patent: 5446485 (1995-08-01), Usui et al.
patent: 5670999 (1997-09-01), Takeuchi et al.
patent: 5801731 (1998-09-01), Takahashi
patent: 5828393 (1998-10-01), Hotomi
patent: 4-126258 (1992-04-01), None
patent: 4-279354 (1992-10-01), None
patent: 06040030 (1994-02-01), None
patent: 6-238894 (1994-08-01), None
Japanese language search report for Int'l Appln No. PCT/JP98/02884 dated Oct. 27, 1998.
English translation of Japanese search report.
Amemiya Kiyohide
Hashimoto Masahiko
Miura Masayoshi
Sugiyama Yoshiyuki
Tatekawa Masaichiro
Dickens C.
Fuller Benjamin R.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Ratner & Prestia
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