Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-30
2003-10-21
Vo, Anh T. N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06634741
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head that jets ink droplets on a record medium to form an image, an ink jet recording device and a head manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an ink jet recording device is drawing attention as a low-cost quality color recording device. For an ink jet recording head of an ink jet recording device, there are known a piezoelectric type ink jet recording head that jets ink from a nozzle by pressure generated by mechanically deforming a pressure chamber by a piezoelectric material for example and a thermal ink jet recording head that energizes a heater element arranged in an individual passage and jets ink from a nozzle by pressure acquired by vaporizing ink.
For a current thermal ink jet recording head, there is known an ink jet recording head disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 9-226142 (hereinafter called a conventional example 1), Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 10-76650 (hereinafter called a conventional example 2), Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 9-327921 (hereinafter called a conventional example 3) and others.
Referring to
FIGS. 20
to
23
, an ink jet recording head in the conventional example 1 will be described below.
FIG. 20
is a perspective view showing an example of the ink jet recording head and an ink supply part respectively mounted in a conventional type ink jet recording device and
FIG. 21
is a sectional view viewed along the line B—B in FIG.
20
.
As shown in
FIGS. 20 and 21
, plural individual passages
102
are formed in a head chip
100
and a nozzle
104
for jetting ink is formed at the end of each individual passage. The plural individual passages
102
communicate with a common liquid chamber
106
inside. Each heater element
108
is provided on the plural individual passages
102
, ink in the individual passage
102
foams by heat generated by the heater element
108
and recording is performed by jetting ink from the nozzle
104
by pressure acquired by foaming. Also, the common liquid chamber
106
is provided with a communicating port
110
for supplying ink from the outside.
An ink supply member
112
is arranged on the upside of the head chip
100
. The ink supply member
112
is provided with an ink passage pipe
114
for supplying ink supplied from an ink tank not shown to the head chip
100
. A filter may be inserted between the ink tank and the ink passage pipe
114
to filter minute solid matters in ink so that they are prevented from entering the head chip
100
to prevent blocking of a nozzle.
The head chip
100
is formed by bonding a passage substrate
120
where the individual passage
102
, the common liquid chamber
106
and others are formed and a heater element substrate
126
where the heater element
108
, a signal processing circuit
122
for driving the heater element
108
and a driver circuit
124
are formed as shown in FIG.
22
.
Referring to
FIG. 22
, a method of producing the head chip
100
made up as described above will be described below.
For a method of producing the heater element substrate
126
, technology for manufacturing LSI and its production facilities for example can be used. A heat storage layer, an exothermic layer to be the heater element, a protective layer for preventing the heater element from being broken by the pressure of bubbles generated by the heat of the heater element and others are laminated on a monocrystalline silicon wafer
128
as shown in FIG.
22
A. Further, for a protective layer to protect from ink, a resin layer
130
made of photosensitive polyimide for example is laminated as shown in FIG.
22
B.
In the meantime, for the passage substrate
120
, grooves to be the common liquid chamber
106
and the individual passages
102
and others can be formed on a silicon wafer
132
by anisotropic etching for example as shown in FIG.
22
C. For a method of forming the grooves to be the common liquid chamber
106
and the individual passages
102
and others by anisotropic etching, after an etching mask is patterned on a silicon wafer which has a crystal face of <100> on the surface, etching has only to be performed using the heated aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide (KOH) as disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application Nos. Hei
11-245413
and Hei
6-183002
. The grooves to be the common liquid chamber
106
and the individual passages
102
and others formed using anisotropic etching become grooves having a desired angle as shown in FIG.
23
.
Further, after two silicon wafers
128
and
132
are bonded with a resin layer
130
between them as shown in
FIG. 22E
after an adhesive
134
is applied on the silicon wafer
132
as shown in
FIG. 22D
, the two silicon wafers are diced and isolated according to a method described in Patent No. 2888474 and others and multiple head chips
100
are simultaneously manufactured as shown in FIG.
22
F.
Afterward, the head chip
100
is fastened to a heat sink for outgoing radiation
136
as shown in
FIGS. 20 and 21
. On the heat sink
136
, a printed wiring substrate
138
is also formed, power and a signal supplied from the body of the ink jet recording device are transmitted to the heater element substrate
126
via bonding wire
140
and a signal and others from various sensors provided to the heater element substrate
126
are transmitted to the body of the recording device.
The head chip
100
and the ink supply member
112
are bonded by an adhesive
142
.
Ink is supplied from the ink tank to the ink jet recording head
144
manufactured as described above. Ink supplied from the ink tank flows in the ink passage pipe
114
in the ink supply member
112
, enters the common liquid chamber
106
in the head chip via the communicating port (the inlet)
110
open on the upside of the passage substrate
120
of the head chip
100
and is supplied to each individual passage
102
.
Next, referring to
FIGS. 24 and 25
, a conventional example 2 will be described. The same reference numbers are allocated to the same components for those in the conventional example 1 and a detailed description is omitted.
In the conventional example 2, an ink passage pipe
114
connecting the ink tank with a common liquid chamber
106
is integrated with a nozzle top plate
150
to which individual passages (grooves)
102
are provided. Therefore, in the conventional example 2, ink supplied to the common liquid chamber
106
via a communicating port not shown at the end of the ink passage pipe
114
also reaches the individual passage (groove)
102
and is also jetted from a nozzle
104
, as in the conventional example 1.
Next, referring to
FIGS. 26 and 27
, the conventional example 3 will be described. The same reference numbers are allocated to the same components for those in the conventional example 1 and a detailed description is omitted.
The conventional example 3 relates to an ink jet recording head called a roof type in which ink supplied from a communicating port
110
flows in an approximately perpendicular direction along a plane
108
A of a heating element
108
from a common liquid chamber
106
and is jetted from a nozzle
104
in a direction approximately perpendicular to the plane
108
A as shown in
FIGS. 26 and 27
.
In the ink jet recording head
14
in the conventional example 1, when bubbles are left in the ink passage pipe
114
and the common liquid chamber
106
, the bubbles grow while the head is used and may cause a large record defect because they block the supply of ink to each individual passage
102
. Particularly, in a thermal ink jet recording head, as the temperature of ink rises due to heating of a heater element, air dissolved in the ink is deposited and the growth of a bubble in the common liquid chamber
106
is accelerated. As bubbles are grown by heat as described above, bubbles are easily grown in the common liquid chamber
106
which is in contact with a heater element substrate
126
Iwamori Toshimichi
Kataoka Masaki
Murata Michiaki
Oda Kazuyuki
Ueda Yoshihisa
Fuji 'Xerox Co., Ltd.
Morgan & Lewis & Bockius, LLP
Vo Anh T. N.
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