Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-14
2001-04-03
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209988
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head for executing a record on a recorded medium by jetting inks, and to an ink jet recording apparatus including the ink jet recording head.
2. Related Background Art
An ink jet recording system has hitherto been adopted as a recording system in a recording apparatus such as a printer etc. The ink jet recording system may be a recording method, wherein inks are jetted out of orifices formed in an ink jet recording head and adhered to a recorded material such as a sheet of paper etc, thus performing the record. The ink jet recording system, which causes an extremely small amount of noise and is capable of high-speed recording, has therefore spread in recent years. What is known as the ink jet recording head is a head including a piezoelectric element and an exothermic element serving as an energy generating member for generating an energy utilized for jetting the inks out of the orifices. In particular, a so-called bubble jet type recording head is structured in such a way that bubbles are formed by applying the thermal energy generated by the exothermic element to the inks and heating the inks abruptly, and ink liquid droplets in ink channels are jetted out of the orifices by utilizing these bubbles. The thus structured recording head has advantages of exhibiting a high responding property to a recording signal and easily attaining a higher density.
A typical example of the ink jet recording head described above will be explained.
FIG. 7
is a partially cut-off perspective view showing one example of a jetting element
1
related to the background art. A channel wall layer
121
serving as a recessed side wall for forming an ink channel
103
and a common ink chamber
104
, is laminated on a recording element substrate
101
, and a top plate
122
is laminated on the channel wall layer
121
. An exothermic element
102
defined as an electro-thermal converting member as well as being an energy generating member for generating the energy utilized for jetting the inks, is provided, corresponding to each ink channel
103
, on an insulating layer on an upper surface of the recording element substrate
101
. Further, there are provided an unillustrated electric wire for electrifying each exothermic element
102
and a connecting terminal
110
disposed at an edge portion of the electric wire. One edge portions of the ink channels
103
are formed with orifices (jetting ports)
105
each opened to the outside, and the other edge portions communicate with the common ink chamber
104
.
FIG. 8
is a perspective view showing one example of a recording element unit related to the background art. As illustrated in
FIG. 8
, the ink jetting element
1
described above is bonded to a base plate
107
having a positioning pin
108
and a positioning hole
109
. In this case, the ink jetting element
1
is bonded thereto at a high relative positional accuracy with respect to the positioning pin
108
and the positioning hole
109
. Then, the ink jetting element
1
is fitted with an ink supply member
106
for guiding the ink to the common ink chamber
104
. The ink can be supplied to the ink supply member
106
from a separately provided ink tank (unillustrated). Thus, the recording element unit
10
including the ink jetting element
1
is constructed.
This recording element unit
10
is structured such that the exothermic element
102
, upon receiving an electric signal, emits heat for heating the ink in the ink channel
103
, then the heated ink bubbles up, and the ink is jetted out of the orifice
105
by dint of the bubbles, thus recording an image on the recorded medium.
Note that the recording element unit described above includes a plurality of recording elements (exothermic elements)-disposed therein, which must be each independently drive-controlled because of a plurality of dots being simultaneously recorded. A driving element for controlling the recording elements in this way is formed normally on a driving element substrate defined as a separate member from the recording element substrate. This driving element substrate is brought into press-contact with the recording element substrate, thereby connecting the driving elements to the recording elements. The reason for having adopted the construction described above is that if a defect appears in any one of the recording element and the driving element, and these elements are formed on the same substrate, then the whole unit would be deemed defective even if one element is normal. In such a case, there would be no alternative but to replace the substrate as it is mounted with the recording element and the driving element. By contrast, however, if the recording element and the driving element are formed on separate substrates, it might be sufficient that only the substrate having the defective element with respect to the recording element substrate and the driving element substrate is replaced while the normal substrate is not required to be replaced, which is efficient.
FIGS. 9 and 10
show a construction in which the recording element unit
10
formed with the exothermic elements (recording elements)
102
(not shown) and the driving element unit
20
on which to dispose the driving element for driving the exothermic elements, are provided as separate units and electrically connected by bringing their connecting terminals into press-contact with each other.
FIG. 9
is an exploded perspective view showing one example of the recording element unit and the driving element unit related to the background art.
FIG. 10
is a side view showing one example of the recording element unit and the driving element unit related to the background art.
The driving element unit
20
is constructed of a driving element substrate
4
provided with connecting terminals
23
to connect to connecting terminals
110
of the jetting element unit
1
and on which driving elements
22
are disposed. Printed circuit board (PCB)
5
is connected via a bonding wire
6
etc to the driving element substrate
4
, and the driving element substrate
4
and the printed circuit board
5
are mounted to a base plate
21
. The bonding wire
6
, the connecting terminal
23
and the driving elements
22
are electrically connected to each other through unillustrated wiring patterns. The printed circuit board
5
is supplied with energy generating power and a driving signal from outside circuits via a cable
26
. Further, the driving element unit
20
is provided with a positioning hole
15
and a positioning pin
14
which correspond to a positioning pin
108
and a positioning hole
109
of the recording element unit
10
. Then, the cable
26
is attached to a rear portion of the printed circuit board
5
, and the recording element unit
10
is fitted to the driving element unit
20
in a state where the unit
10
is turned over from the state shown in FIG.
8
. At this time, the positioning pin
108
is fitted into the positioning hole
15
, and the positioning pin
14
is fitted into the positioning hole
109
respectively, thus completing the positioning process. With this process, as schematically illustrated in
FIG. 10
, the connecting terminal
110
of the recording element unit
10
comes into direct-contact with the connecting terminal
23
of the driving element unit
20
, thus taking a conduction therebetween.
FIG. 10
is a side view showing one example of the recording element unit and the driving element unit related to the background art.
FIG. 11
is a side view showing another example of the recording element unit and the driving element unit related to the background art. Further,
FIGS. 12A and 12B
are partially enlarged side sectional views of FIG.
11
.
FIG. 12A
shows a state before the connection, and
FIG. 12B
shows a state after the connection. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 1-302829 discloses a construction in which, as illustrated in
FIGS. 11
,
12
A and
12
B, the two connecting terminals
110
,
23
are
Sueoka Manabu
Yamane Toru
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Le N.
Vo Anh T. N.
LandOfFree
Ink jet recording head and ink jet recording apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Ink jet recording head and ink jet recording apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ink jet recording head and ink jet recording apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2551500