Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-31
2003-11-25
Ball, Michael W. (Department: 2861)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S275500, C156S275700, C156S295000, C029S890100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06652702
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head, and a method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head.
2. Related Background Art
A liquid discharge recording apparatus is the recording apparatus of the so-called non-impact recording type which can perform recording at high speed and use various kinds of recording mediums for recording. Then, it is characterized in that almost no noise is generated at the time of recording. For the liquid discharge recording methods adoptable for a liquid discharge recording apparatus of the kind, there is, as the typical example thereof, a method that uses an electrothermal converting device as a discharge energy generating element. The liquid discharge recording head that uses this method provides each of the electrothermal converting devices in each pressure chamber, and provides thermal energy for recording liquid when the electric pulses, which serve as recording signals, are applied to each of the electrothermal converting devices. This generates the phaseal changes of recording liquid, and then, the bubbling pressure of recording liquid exerted at the time of bubbling (at the time of boiling) is utilized for discharging recording liquid droplets.
Further, of the liquid discharge recording heads that use the electrothermal converting method, there are the one that adopts the method in which recording liquid is discharged in parallel to the base plate having the electrothermal converting devices arranged therefor (edge shooter) and the one that adopts the method in which recording liquid is discharged perpendicularly to the base plate having the electrothermal converting devices arranged therefor (side shooter).
FIG. 17
is a view which shows the state where the recording element base plate, which constitutes the background art of the application hereof, is mounted on a supporting member.
As shown in
FIG. 17
, a plurality of discharge ports
104
a
for discharging recording liquid are arranged on the discharge port plate
104
provided for the recording element base plate
103
on the surface side to be open in two lines in a position to face the discharge energy generating elements (electrothermal converting devices, for example)
105
, and the discharge port array is structured to form one pair by two lines.
The recording liquid supply path
101
a
has a flow path width larger than the opening width of the inlet portion of the recording liquid supply port
106
. As a result, the thickness of a partition wall
101
b
that partitions the recording supply paths
101
a
adjacent to each other is smaller than the pitch between the inlet portions themselves of the recording liquid supply ports
106
adjacent to each other.
There have been known several assembling methods or the like used for the manufacture of such recording element base plate as described above and the liquid discharge head that includes such base plate.
For example, in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 09-187952, an assembling method is disclosed to position the recording element base plate with respect to a method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head. This assembling method is such as to position the recording element base plate in good precision by use of vacuum adsorption fingers, and then, to fix the recording element base plate by the application of bonding agent of the type that dually uses ultraviolet and thermal hardening.
Also, in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 11-179923, a method is disclosed for bonding an orifice plate (discharge port plate) to the main body of a liquid discharge head.
Also, in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 11-188873, a method is disclosed for bonding a nozzle member to the main body of a liquid discharge head which is provided with a plurality of ink chambers.
Of the recording element base plates described above, the second recording element base plate
103
, which is provided with a plurality of discharge port arrays, in particular, makes it necessary to narrow the pitches each other for the recording liquid supply port
106
in a case where the number of recording element base plates is increased to implement the cost down when the base plates are cut out from one silicon wafer or where the number of discharge port arrays
103
a
is increased without making the recording element base plate larger.
If the pitches between recording liquid supply ports
106
themselves are made smaller, there is a need for making the thickness smaller for the partition wall
101
b
of the supporting member
101
accordingly. However, if the partition wall
101
b
is made thinner, there are problems that may be encountered as given below.
(1) It becomes difficult for the ceramics supporting member
101
to form the thin partition wall less than a certain thickness from the viewpoint of manufacture.
(2) If the partition wall
101
b
is thin, the vibration waves are propagated to the adjacent supply flow path through the partition wall
101
b
when recording liquid is discharged. Then, in the adjacent supply flow path, the defective supply of recording liquid is caused to occur due to the propagated vibrations with the resultant printing defect.
(3) Further, if the partition wall
101
b
is thin, it becomes necessary to make the assembling precision higher for the recording element base plate
103
in relation to the supporting member
101
so as not to allow the adjunct supply flow paths
101
a
themselves to mix recording liquids.
On the other hand, if the partition wall
101
b
is made too thick, the width of the supply flow path
101
a
becomes narrower to make it impossible to supply recording liquid to the recording liquid supply port
106
in a sufficient amount.
Therefore, when the pitch between the recording supply ports themselves should made smaller, it is necessary to determine the thickness of the partition wall
101
b
to be formed in the supporting base plate
101
and the width of the supply flow path
101
a
in consideration of those aspects described above.
Also, for the assembling method or the like described above, which is used for the manufacture of the recording element base plate and the manufacture of the liquid discharge head that includes that of the recording element base plate, the following drawback is encountered:
(1) Of the locations having thereon the bonding agent of ultraviolet and thermal harding dural type coated, the irradiated ultraviolet rays do not reach the locations in shadows of the adsorption fingers that adsorb the recording element base plate. As a result, the recording element base plate is transferred to the next hardening process while the positioning fixation has not been completed, and the positioning of the recording element base plate is deviated eventually.
(2) The viscosity of the bonding agent of ultraviolet and thermal harding dural type applied on the location where irradiated ultraviolet rays do not reach as described above is made extremely low immediately before hardening in the thermal harding step, and then, due to the capillary force, it is transferred to the corner portions inside the recording liquid flow path. As a result, discharge nozzles are clogged.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to optimize the discharge characteristics of recording liquid and the supply characteristics thereof, as well as the positioning precision of a recording element base plate to a supporting member.
In order to achieve the object described above, the ink jet recording head has a plurality of discharge energy generating devices
4
for discharging recording liquid, while being provided with a recording element base plate
1
arranged on the face opposite to the surface where the devices
4
are arranged, having a plurality of recording liquid supply ports
5
for supplying recording liquid to the devices
4
, as well as with a supporting member
2
that holds and fixes the recording element base plate
1
. For the support
Hirosawa Toshiaki
Iwanaga Shuzo
Miyazaki Kyota
Morita Osamu
Sato Osamu
Ball Michael W.
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Haran John T.
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